UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

FROM  THE    LIBRARN    OV 

BENJAMIN  PARKE  AVERY. 

GIFT  OF  MRS.   AVERY. 

-\uirust,  iSqt). 

Accessions  No.  (p^YO^      CVjss  M). 

-'-.r.,. 


i^.         . 


DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA, 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2007 


http://archive.org/details/daysinnorthindiaOOmaclrich 


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DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 


BY 


NORMAN  MACLEOD,  D.D., 

AUTHOR  OF   "WEE   DAVIE,"   "EASTWARD,"   ETC.,    AND   EDITOR   OF    "GOOD   WORDS. 


PROFUSELY    ILLUSTRATED. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    &    CO. 
18  7  0. 


vX 


,\ 


^ 


-^v 


63Yf  2. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Calcutta  to  Benares .9 


CHAPTEE  II. 
From  Allahabad  to  Lucknow    .        .        .        .        .        .        .44 

CHAPTER  III. 
From  Lucknow  to  Agra 91 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Delhi 136 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The  Great  Arch  of  Delhi  ....        Frontispiece. 

PAGE 

Boats  on  the  Ganges 25 

The  Ghauts,  Benares .29 

Palace  inside  the  Fort 47 

The  Ghat  of  the  Massacre,  Cawnpore 57 

Kaiser  Bagh,  or  King's  Palace,  Lucknow       ....  71 

The  Bailey  Guard,  Lucknow 77 

The  Banqueting-hall  op  the  Kesidency,  Lucknow        .        .  85 

The  Taj 110 

The  Taj  and  Gardens 113 

Tomb  of  Akbar       .        .        .        . 119 

The  Fort  of  Agra 123 

Balcony  of  Zenana,  at  Agra 125 

The  Pearl  Mosque 131 

The  Quadrangle  of  Pearl  Mosque  .        .        .        .        .        .  145 

The  Chandnee  Chouk I53 

The  Jumna  Musjid,  from  the  North I39 

The  Kootab-Minar,  with  the  Great  Arch,  from  the  West  149 

Ruins  of  Old  Delhi,  from  thh  top  of  Humayoon's  Tomb     .  157 

The  Old  Observatory 161 

The  Cashmere  Gate I7I 

(vii) 


[uiriVBRSITT] 
DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 


CHAPTER   I. 

CALCUTTA   TO   BENARES. 

Days — only  days!  very  few  they  were,  yet  very 
memorable.  A  single  fortnight  to  see  Benares,  Alla- 
habad, Cawnpore,  Lucknow,  Agra,  and  Delhi!  Still, 
I  am  persuaded,  every  traveler  will  agree  with  me 
that  a  vast  deal  of  nonsense  is  talked  about  the  use- 
lessness  of  brief  visits.  Want  of  time  may  be  pain- 
fully felt  and  acknowledged,  and  yet,  nevertheless, 
how  rapidly  the  most  vivid,  correct,  and  enduring 
impressions  may  be  made!  All  have  felt  this  who 
have  even  for  a  few  minutes  gazed  through  a  tele- 
scope on  some  brilliant  constellation,  or  through  the 
microscope  on  the  marvelous  creatures  scintillating 
and  roving  about  in  a  drop  of  water.  Who  that  has 
stood  even  for  one  hour  by  Niagara  or  Vesuvius; 
gazed  at  Mont  Blanc  from  Chamouni,  or  on  Jeru- 
salem from  Nebi  Samwil ;  stood  on  the  Acropolis,  or 
on  the  ramparts  of  Edinburgh  Castle;  walked  through 
St.  Peter's,  the  cathedrals  of  Milan  and  Cologne,  or 

2  (9) 


12  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

Soon  after  dark  I  found  myself  alone,  rushing 
along  the  line  which,  for  upwards  of  a  thousand 
miles,  leads  to  Delhi.  There  is  little  of  any  interest 
to  attract  the  eye  or  break  the  eniiui  of  the  long 
journey.  I  do  not  remember  any  tunnel  the  whole 
way.  We  passed  along  the  shore  of  the  Ganges, 
though  not  always  close  to  it,  and  across  plains,  ex- 
cept when,  at  some  points,  we  skirted  a  low  line  of 
hills  rising  like  a  line  of  beach  to  this  ocean  of  al- 
luvial soil.  There  was  not  much  visible  of  any  of 
the  towns  we  passed.  The  natives  who  crowded  the 
station-houses  were  very  like  the  people  we  saw  every- 
where. They  pushed  along  in  feverish  anxiety  to  get 
their  seats,  being  frequently  encumbered  with  their 
bundles  of  household  gear.  Their  wives  and  children 
clung  to  them  all  the  while,  and  jabbered  with  nerv- 
ous earnestness. 

The  first-class  carriages  are  very  comfortable.  Each 
seat  is  capable  of  accommodating  six  persons,  but 
they  are  never  crowded,  the  greatest  possible  con- 
sideration being  shown  to  European  travelers.  They 
are  much  more  lofty  and  roomy  than  ours,  and  are 
protected  from  the  sun  by  double  roofs,  projecting 
shades,  and  Venetian  blinds.  The  mode  of  accom- 
modating sleepers  is  very  simple  and  efficient.  The 
portion  which  forms  the  cushioned  back  of  the  long 
seats  is  lifted  up  like  a  shelf,  and  is  made  flist  by 
straps  to  the  roofs.  Large  couches  are  thus  formed, 
each  capable,  with  a  little  bending  of  the  knees,  of 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES.  13 

giving  stretching  room  to  the  travelers  at  night.  At 
every  station  abundance  of  cool  drinking  water  is 
supplied  by  a  BJiestie,  and  earthen  jars  are  sold  for  a 
trifle,  in  which  it  may  be  kept  cool  in  the  carriage. 
The  refreshment-rooms  are  at  convenient  distances, 
and  are  well  supplied.  At  many  of  them  the  traveler 
may  remain  for  the  night.  As  there  are  English 
officials  everywhere,  there  are  no  difficulties  in  get- 
ting along.  Most  travelers  are  wise  enough,  how- 
ever, to  provide  some  luxuries  for  the  journey;  and 
the  private  box  is  often  resorted  to  in  preference  to 
the  refreshment-room.  I  never  saw  any  native  gentle- 
men traveling  in  the  same  compartment  with  Euro- 
peans. This  circumstance,  however,  arises  not  so 
much  from  any  repugnance  of  race,  as  from  customs 
and  habits  which  make  the  native  repugnant  to  the 
European,  and  the  European  equally  repugnant  to 
the  native. 

We  reached  Bankimpore,  the  station  nearest  to 
Patna,  next  day,  and  were  most  hospitably  received 
and  entertained  by  Mr.  Richardson  the  magistrate. 
Dr.  Watson  had  traveled  by  Palki  to  Gyah,  some 
sixty  miles  off,  and  returned  with  our  two  mission- 
aries, Mr.  Clark  and  Mr.  Macfarlane,  old  friends  of 
mine,  that  we  might  confer  together  at  Patna.  I  was 
unable  to  see  anything  of  this  great  Mahommedan 
city,  but  I  had  the  happiness  of  meeting  at  the  house 
of  Mr.  Richardson  a  large  party  of  our  countrymen. 

We  left  Patna  next  evening,  and  reached  Benares 

2* 


14  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

about  midnight.  Here  we  were  welcomed  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Kennedy,  the  respected  missionary  of  the 
London  Society,  who  has  long  labored  in  this  city. 
Mr.  Clark  had  returned  to  Gyah,  but  Mr.  Macfarlane 
accompanied  us  as  far  as  Lucknow.  Mr.  Kennedy 
had  made  every  preparation  to  enable  us  to  see  as 
much  as  possible  of  the  city.  The  handsome  English 
carriage  of  the  Rajah  Sir  Deo  Nary  en  Singh  was 
waiting  for  us  at  the  station,  and  next  day  was 
kindly  put  at  our  disposal,  and  our  first  visit  was 
to  the  Rajah. 

I  may  here  state  that  Benares  is  the  finest  city  in 
Doah,  higher  or  lower.  It  is  on  the  frontier  of  the 
great  governmental  division  called  the  Northwest 
Provinces,  which  to  the  north,  near  Umballa,  is 
bounded  by  the  Punjaub,  and  along  its  western 
frontier,  south  of  Oude,  by  the  Himalaya.  These 
magnificent  provinces  are  in .  area  nearly  equal  to 
Great  Britain,  with  an  average  of  361  persons  to  the 
square  mile.  There  is  a  lieutenant-governor,  and  the 
provinces  are  divided  into  thirty-five  districts,  with 
six  commissionerships. 

But  to  return  to  Sir  Deo.  He  was  most  faithful  to 
the  British  government  during  the  mutiny,  and  did 
us  the  greatest  service.  To  testify  his  sincerity  he 
lived  with  the  Resident,  and  put  himself  wholly  in 
his  power,  when  things  were  at  the  worst.  No 
wonder  that  he  should  have  had  knighthood  con- 
ferred upon  him  and  the  order  of  the  Star  of  India. 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENABES.  ■     15 

Sir  Deo's  house  and  its  arrangements  seemed  in  some 
of  their  features  characteristic  of  India.  The  outer 
gate  led  into  a  bare  open  compound,  surrounded  by 
the  houses  of  the  servants  and  dependents.  This 
again  led  into  a  beautiful,  well-watered  garden,  with 
walks  of  marble,  beyond  which  was  a  handsome 
house  approached  by  a  double  flight  of  steps,  leading 
to  the  entrance-door  from  an  elevated  terrace.  This 
door  was  a  very  narrow  one,  with  a  narrow  and  steep 
flight  of  steps  conducting  to  the  public  rooms  above — 
a  species  of  access  which  always  suggests  the  idea  of 
defense  against  sudden  attack. 

Sir  Deo  met  us  at  the  top  of  this  steep  stair,  re- 
ceived us  very  courteously,  and  conducted  us  to  his 
drawing-room,  which  was  furnished  in  the  same  pro- 
fuse manner  as  those  we  had  seen  in  Calcutta,  with 
European  works  of  art.  It  is  used  as  a  reception- 
room  for  European  visitors  only.  Mr.  Kennedy  acted 
as  interpreter.  Sir  Deo  seemed  to  be  an  unaffected 
man,  of  much  intelligence  and  common  sense.  The 
conversation  was  on  several  topics,  but  it  was  not  of 
a  kind  to  be  reported.  He  presented  us  with  flowers 
and  scented  our  handkerchiefs — events  of  no  serious 
importance.  His  attendants,  like  those  I  had  seen  in 
Calcutta,  appeared  to  have  a  spirit  of  deep  reverence 
for  their  master,  with  the  same  open-eyed  interest  in 
all  that  we  said.  Their  bearing  was  much  like  what 
I  have  observed  in  Highland  servants  of  the  olden 
time — servants,  yet  friends,  in  whom  a  sense  of  de- 


16  DAYS  /iV  NORTH  INDIA, 

pendence  was  combined  with  the  social  sympathies  of 
what  I  may  call  Patriarchal  republicanism. 

Sir  Deo  sent  a  servant  to  accompany  us  in  our 
ramble  through  the  city.  This  servant  carried  a  most 
imposing  "silver  stick,"  which  gave  one  a  pleasing 
sense  of  his  own  importance.  The  means  of  convey- 
ance put  at  our  disposal  to  thread  the  streets  of 
"Holy  Benares"  were  the  Rajah's  carriage,  elephant, 
and  tonjons,  a  sort  of  open  sedan-chair,  which  is 
carried  by  poles  resting  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
bearers. 

After  parting  with  the  carriage,  where  the  narrow 
streets  made  it  impossible  for  us  to  proceed  in  it,  we 
found  the  elephant  waiting  for  us.  I  felt  awed  in 
the  presence  of  the  noble  beast!  My  acquaintance 
with  his  kind  had  been  limited  to  Wombwell's  Men- 
agerie and  the  Zoological  Gardens.  We  had  seen 
only  two  or  three  in  India,  and  these  did  not  impress 
us.  It  had  never  been  proposed  to  us  to  ride  upon 
any,  either  as  a  matter  of  amusement  or  of  business. 
But  here  was  a  proper  animal  for  our  use.  He  was 
of  great  size,  and  of  great  age.  He  stood  with  gouty- 
like  legs,  moving  his  huge  ears.  He  was  clothed  in 
a  coarse,  home-made  drapery  of  skin,  fitting  loosely  to 
his  body,  and  forming  trowsers — not  exactly  like 
those  exquisite  models  pictured  at  railway  stations, 
price  16s.  A  lad  sat  on  his  huge  head,  a  thick 
iron  spike  in  his  hand,  by  which  he  seemed  to  touch 
the  creature's  thoughts  as  if  by  some  electric  process. 


fTj%J7BRSITT| 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES. 

A  ladder  placed  against  his  side  led  up  to  the  seat  on 
his  summit.  It  was  not  possible  to  look  at  that  small 
eye  of  his  without  questioning  one's  safety:  it  was  so 
inquisitive  and  sagacious,  so  thoughtful  and  calcula- 
ting, that  no  astonishment  would  have  been  felt  had 
he,  out  of  sheer  fun,  played  us  any  trick,  and  then 
shaken  his  frame  with  elephantine  laughter.  Before 
we  ascended  he  bent  his  tough  gray  knees,  not,  how- 
ever, until  cushions  had  been  laid  for  them.  Then 
he  quietly  knelt  down.  We  got  up  to  our  seats,  feel- 
ing very  much  as  if  we  were  on  the  ridge  of  a  one- 
storied  house.  We  there  held  on  as  if  for  life,  while 
the  mountain  heaved,  for  as  he  rose  on  his  hind  legs 
he  sent  us  forward,  and  on  his  fore  legs  sent  us  back- 
ward. 

At  last  we  got  under  way.  Judging  from  my  own 
feelings,  I  was  astonished  that  the  people  did  not 
laugh,  and  the  windows  open  that  the  idle  women, 
albeit  in  the  East,  should  see  the  sight.  But  all  seemed 
to  be  a  matter  of  course,  much  as  if  at  home  we  had 
hired  a  cab.  On  we  went,  with  slow,  silent,  soft, 
stately  swing.  The  great  ears  were  below  us,  and 
below  them  the  stout  tusks,  as  if  to  clear  the  way. 
Having  fully  realized  our  dignity,  and  being  fully 
convinced  that  all  asses,  horses,  carriages — even  rail- 
ways— were  poor  and  undignified  things  when  com- 
pared with  an  elephant,  and  almost  wishing  that  we 
could  have  one  provided  for  us  as  we  went  to  report 
ourselves  to  the  first  general  assembly  in  Edinburgh, 


18  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

we  nevertheless  quietly  hinted  that  a  more  humble 
mode  of  conveyance  would  be  quite  as  comfortable ; 
so  we  descended,  with  gratitude  for  our  safety. 

Apart  from  our  own  wishes,  the  streets  made  this 
change  necessary.  I  question  if  our  august  friend 
could  have  squeezed  himself  through  some  of  the 
narrow  lanes  of  Benares.  In  its  structure  internally 
as  a  city,  as  well  as  in  other  respects  which  I  shall 
presently  allude  to,  Benares  stands  alone.  The  houses 
are  all  built  of  solid  stone,  obtained  from  the  quarries 
of  Chumar  in  the  immediate  neighborhood.  They 
are  flanked  by  houses  six  or  even  seven  stories  high. 
Whether  to  gain  shade  from  the  burning  sun,  or  as  a 
means  of  defense  against  foes,  these  streets  are  so 
narrow  as  to  resemble  the  closes  in  the  old  town  of 
Edinburgh.  Indeed,  if  our  readers  can  suppose  the 
closes  worming  through  the  whole  city  with  sharp 
turnings  and  endless  windings,  they  will  have  a  pretty 
good  idea  of  the  place.  There  are  shops  of  every  kind 
and  for  every  trade,  according  to  the  quarter  of  the 
city.  All  these  are  open  to  the  street.  There  are 
workers  in  brass  and  iron,  in  silver,  gold,  and  jewels; 
workers  of  slippers  and  saddlery;  of  arms  and  ac- 
couterments;  of  cloths  and  Oriental  fabrics ;  of  sweet- 
meats ad  nauseam;  and  sellers  of  grain  of  every  kind. 
The  lower  stories  in  all  the  houses  are  the  worst,  and 
we  sometimes  saw  cattle  stalled  in  them,  and  gazing 
out  into  the  street  to  add  to  the  peculiarity  of  the 
scene. 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES.  19 

To  a  traveler,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features 
of  Benares  is  the  presence  of  monkeys.  The  honor 
conferred  on  this  animal  is  not  owing  to  any  anticipa- 
tion of  the  discoveries  of  Darwin  which  have  made 
the  genus  interesting,  as  being  the  possible  ancestors 
of  Milton,  Shakspeare,  and  Goethe;  but  because  of 
certain  benefits  conferred  by  the  king  of  the  monkeys 
upon  the  deities  of  Hindoo  worship,  which  need  not 
here  be  inquired  into.  These  funny  creatures  are  fed 
by  pilgrims ;  they  enjoy  the  happiest,  most  guileless 
existence  in  Benares ;  and  although  panics  have  been 
occasioned  by  accidents  befalling  them — a  broken  leg 
having  in  one  instance  sent  a  foreboding  gloom  over 
the  more  religious  inhabitants  of  the  city — they  them- 
selves seem  strangely  unconscious  of  resj^onsibility, 
and  leap,  and  climb,  and  jabber,  and  amuse  them- 
selves in  a  way  which  is  really  delightful  to  their 
human  descendants. 

The  only  shop  or  factory  we  had  time  to  visit  was 
that  of  the  famous  Brocade  of  Benares.  We  threaded 
our  way  through  many  narrow  passages,  and  ascended 
many  narrow  stairs,  and  passed  through  room  after 
room,  until  we  got  into  the  treasure-room  of  the  gor- 
geous manufacture.  All  this  difficulty  of  entrance 
told  of  past  times,  when  property  was  so  insecure  as 
to  demand  means  of  concealment  and  defense.  When 
at  last  we  reached  the  small  chamber  where  the 
goods  were  displayed,  we  fully  enjoyed  the  brilliant 
spectacle.     To  see  those  magnificent  gold  brocades. 


20  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

costing  twenty  pounds  or  even  more  the  yard !  Wealth 
might  purchase  them,  but  no  wealth,  save  the  wealth 
of  long  trained  art,  could  command  the  exquisite  taste 
they  display.  Web  after  web  was  unfolded,  and  it 
was  a  great  enjoyment  to  gaze  on  them.  Oriental 
splendor  appeared  so  natural  and  so  refined,  that 
broadcloth  and  white  neck-ties  seemed  impossible  for 
any  one  who  could  clothe  himself  in  such  gorgeous 
costume.  To  adopt  our  vulgar,  prosaic,  commonplace 
Western  suits  was  like  preferring  mist  and  rain  to 
the  splendors  of  sunset.  From  defective  arrange- 
ments as  to  the  pay  of  the  clergy,  it  was  impossible 
for  me  to  patronize  this  magnificent  manufactory. 
But  I  gave  it  all  I  had  to  bestow — my  enthusiastic 
admiration. 

Our  next  "Peep"  at  Benares  was  from  the  river. 
But  before  taking  this  peep  I  must  put  the  reader 
more  en  rapport  with  this  famous  city. 

Benares  is  to  the  Hindoos  what  Mecca  is  to  the 
Mohammedans,  and  what  Jerusalem  was  to  the  Jews 
of  old.  It  is  the  "holy"  city  of  Hindostan. '  I  have 
never  seen  anything  approaching  to  it  as  a  visible 
embodiment  of  religion ;  nor  does  anything  like  it 
exist  on  earth.  Its  antiquity  is  great — how  great  I 
do  not  know.  As  in  the  case  of  most  ancient  cities, 
there  are  in  it  few  remains  of  the  old  portions.  Per- 
haps not  a  single  building  or  even  the  remains  of  one 
exists  which  dates  beyond  three  or  four  hundred 
years,  and  this  owing  to  the  domination  of  the  Mos- 


CALCUTTA    TO    BENARES.  21 

lem,  with  his  hatred  of  idolatry  and  idol  temples. 
Even  poor,  desolate  Jerusalem  has  many  more  ves- 
tiges of  the  past  than  Benares.  But  nevertheless  it 
is  now,  as  it  has  been  for  long  ages,  the  grand  center 
of  Hindoo  worship  and  veneration.  It  contains  a 
thousand  temples,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  images  of 
all  the  gods  worshiped  in  Hindostan.  To  make  a 
pilgrimage  to  Benares,  to  visit  its  shrines,  and  walk 
for  fifty  miles  around  its  sacred  territory,  even  though 
tottering  with  age  or  sickness,  and  almost  crawling 
on  the  earth,  has  for  centuries  been  the  highest  ambi- 
tion of  the  devotee,  from  Cape  Comorin  to  the  Him- 
alayas. And  to  die  in  Benares  has  been  the  sure 
passport  of  millions  wishing  for  glory.  The  orthodox 
rulers  of  territories,  small  or  great,  recognized  its 
sanctity;  and  in  person,  or  by  the  substitution  of 
their  vakeel,  have  paid  their  respects  and  money  to 
it,  and  sought  its  blessings.  Many  nobles  have  built 
their  palaces  in  it,  and  have  reared  temples,  or  long 
flights  of  stairs,  or  ghauts,  for  the  convenience  of  the 
faithful.  Not  a  few  have  spent  and  many  still  spend 
the  evening  of  their  days  within  its  walls,  atoning 
for  their  sins  by  their  asceticism,  or  by  their  liberal 
hospitality  and  largesse  to  the  ever-recipient  Brah- 
mins. Benares  has  been  the  Vatican,  the  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  of  Hindostan.  Here  the  most  learned 
men  of  India  have  lived,  studying  the  Yedas,  which 
to  all  but  the  priesthood  were  sealed  books,  until 
they  were  mastered  and  published  by  Max  Mliller 

3 


22  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

and  his  learned  brotherhood.  The  pundits  of  Ben- 
ares have  written  learned  treatises  on  grammar,  met- 
aphysics, and  theology;  students  from  every  part  of 
the  country  come  to  live  with  them  and  study  under 
them.  Here,  miserable  devotees  covered  with  ashes 
have  endured  fiercest  torments ;  and  holy  beggars  in 
crowds  have  collected  their  alms.  Holy  bulls  have 
wandered  through  the  streets,  and  as  gods  were  re- 
vered, being  made  welcome  to  eat  at  every  grain 
shop  they  were  pleased  to  honor  with  their  atten- 
tions. No  "melas,"  or  holy  fairs,  were  so  attended 
as  those  of  Benares.  Hundreds  of  thousands  every 
year  gathered  to  this  the  scene  of  their  solemni- 
ties. 

Changes  to  some  extent  have  taken  place.  The 
"melas"  are  not  now  so  well  attended.  Without 
much  opposition,  the  bulls  have,  for  sanitary  reasons, 
been  denied  the  freedom  of  the  streets.  But  the 
monkeys  are  as  holy  and  as  numerous  as  ever.  As 
the  last  convulsive  effort  of  dying  Brahminism,  the 
temples  increase  rather  than  diminish ;  and  the  city 
is  as  much  as  ever  "  wholly  given  to  idolatry." 

The  difference  between  the  finest  temples  in  Ben- 
ares and  those  in  South  India  is  very  visible.  The 
former  are  paltry  and  contemptible  in  comparison 
with  the  latter.  This,  I  understand,  has  been  oc- 
casioned by  the  Mohammedan  persecutions  in  former 
days,  when  the  Great  Mogul  was  all  and  all.  Large 
temples  would  then  have  been  destroyed,  and  large 


CALCUTTA    TO   BENARES.  23 

shrines  were  consequently  preferred,  as  being  more 
easily  built  again  if  destroyed.  The  Hindoos  never 
had  such  freedom  under  '^native"  Mohammedan  rule 
as  they  have  enjoyed  under  the  foreign  Christian 
government  of  Britain. 

To  visit  the  temples  of  Benares  would  be  the  labor 
of  weeks,  and  the  profit  more  than  questionable.  We 
visited  the  chief  one,  however,  the  temple  of  Bishes- 
war,  the  idol  king  of  Benares. 

The  one  which  we  visited  was  a  sort  of  cathedral. 
It  had  nothing  imposing  in  its  structure.  The  lingam 
predominated,  and,  in  fact,  was  all  in  all. 

The  usual  ceremony  of  worshipers  in  this  temple 
consists  in  presenting  some  flowers  to  the  ugly-look- 
ing monster  called  God.  They  prostrated  themselves 
before  him,  and  struck  the  bell,  which  is  in  every 
temple,  and  then  departed.  The  temples  are  always 
wet  with  the  holy  water  of  the  Ganges,  which  is 
poured  on  the  god,  and  over  every  offering.  Many 
of  the  worshipers  throw  themselves  down  before  the 
savage-looking  image,  and  not  a  few  seemed  excited 
by  bang.  There  is  a  famous  well  beside  the  temple, 
into  which  flowers  were  cast,  and  from  whose  fetid 
waters  worshipers  drank.  The  people  looked  utterly 
stupid  and  prosaic ;  many  of  them  were  sensual  and 
depraved  in  appearance,  and  the  whole  scene  dis- 
gusting in  the  extreme.  This  impression  was  not 
lessened  by  the  sight  of  figures  of  bulls  carved  in 
stone,  reminding  one,  as  they  did,  of  the  olden  time 


24 


DAYS  IN  NORTH  iNDlA. 


of  Apis  and  the  golden  calves,  with  the  condemna- 
tion of  the  Almighty  upon  them. 

We  rowed  down  the  river  through  the  city,  for 
two  or  three  miles,  in  a  covered  boat.     Certainly  I 


^^S#? 


never  saw  such  a  striking  spectacle  in  my  life.  It 
remains  unapproached  and  unapproachable  in  my 
memory.  No  description  can  give  any  adequate  idea 
of  the  scene.  I  must  refer  to  the  illustration,  al- 
though even  it  can  only  convey  an  imperfect  notion 
to'  the  reader.  The  architecture  was  remarkable ; 
yet  no  building,  unless  perhaps  the  two  remarkable 
minarets,  made  any  distinct  impression  of  beauty  or 
of  grandeur  upon  the  mind.  Still,  as  a  whole,  and 
with  many  remarkable  hits,  it  was  extraordinary. 
The  city  rose  high  from  the  edge  of  the  grand  old 
river  with  a  strength  and  imposing  majesty  (from  its 
height  and  the  vast  mass  of  stone)  such  as  1  had  not 


tbiiillll*fl,Sl,ilh^ 


>>^   Of  TH»     * 

[UltlVBRSITT] 


'ZPO 


k<^ 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES. 


27 


before  seen  in  the  East.     The  river  itself  flowing  in 
broad  and  rapid  stream  formed  a  splendid  foreground 


to  the  picture.     Its  surface  was  covered  with  every 
kind  of  out-of-the-way  picturesque  boat,  whose  sails, 


whether  white  or  saffron-colored,  whole  or  tattered, 
each  made  a  study.     The  marvelous  line  of  archi- 

3* 


28  DAYS  IN  NOBTH  INDIA. 

lecture  was  of  every  possible  variety  of  form,  the 
ghauts,  or  landing-places,  having  long  flights  of  stairs, 
and  being  continued  on  and  on  along  the  river,  in 
such  numbers  as  one  never  saw  before.  These  stairs 
were  not  uniform,  but  were  longer  or  shorter,  broader 
iccoidiiig  to  each  builder's  fancy.     All, 


however,  were  built  of  solid  stone,  massive  and  ap- 
parently enduring.  Above  these,  and  mingling  with 
them  in  utter  confusion,  were  a  countless  number  of 
temples,  small  and  great.  And  then,  lastly,  over- 
topping these,  were  fortress-looking  stone  palaces  of 
rajahs,  who  had  here  their  town  residences,  although 
probably  they  generally  resided  in  distant  parts  of 
India.  When  one  was  cool  enough — for  the  spectacle 
was  most  exciting — to  look  at  architectural  details, 
how  picturesque   they  were!      As  to  the  excellence 


;uirx7BRsiTr] 


THE  GUAl 


I 


BENARES. 


Page  31. 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES.  31 

of  these  works  as  artistic  productions  I  could  form 
no  judgment  as  I  floated  past — I  felt,  but  could 
not  criticise.  And  certainly  nothing  could  be  more 
unique  than  such  a  first  glimpse  beneath  the  bright 
sun,  and  the  blue  sky,  of  an  outline  so  broken,  and 
of  forms  so  fantastic ; — of  brightest  lights  and  shadows 
numberless; — of  balconies,  verandas,  towers,  cupolas, 
oriel  windows,  projections,  recesses,  and  covered  gal- 
leries, endless  and  indescribable!  And  then  there 
was  the  absence  of  every  trace  of  Westernism,  for 
so  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  no  Englishman  had  ever 
visited  Benares.  There  Hindooism  had  reigned  long 
ere  the  Romans  had  landed  in  Great  Britain,  and  did 
not  seem  to  have  been  disturbed. 

The  ghauts  are  wholly  given  to  idolatry,  and  were 
alive  with  devotees.  Hundreds,  nay,  thousands, 
crowded  them ;  many  performing  their  ablutions  in 
the  holy  waters  of  the  Ganges,  and  saying  their 
prayers.  Thousands,  again,  grouped  round  the  holy 
Brahmins,  who  sit  under  their  white  umbrellas,  ^  / 
planted  like  beds  of  great  mushrooms  along  the  <  < 
river;  for,  under  these,  all  ceremonies  are  properly 
arranged,  blessings  bestowed,  and  fees  paid.  Here 
the  weak,  the  aged,  and  the  sick  who  have  arrived 
from  long  pilgrimages  of  hundreds  of  miles,  receive 
spiritual  strength  and  comfort  from  these  sacred 
waters,  or  die  and  enter  heaven  direct  from  its  gate. 
On  one  ghaut  smoke  constantly  ascends  from  the 
burning  bodies  of  the  dead,  and  on  another  the  most 


32  DAYS  IN  NOBTH  INDIA. 

heinous  crimes  are  being  atoned  for.  Rest  is  prom- 
ised to  the  sinful  and  weary  as  the  reward  of  sacri- 
fices, pains,  penances,  and  pay.  And  all  this  has 
been  going  on  for  centuries !  What  knows  this 
spiritual  world  of  Benares  about  us — and  what  care 
we  for  it!  Alas,  we  are  only  excited  or  amused  by 
this  antique  drama — so  strange,  so  un-European,  so 
old-world  is  it.  Were  we  ourselves  right  toward  God 
and  man,  and  had  we  love  to  our  Father  and  our 
brother,  we  should  look  at  such  a  spectacle  with  a 
very  different  eye,  and  experience  a  poignant  sorrow 
for  such  ignorance,  degradation,  and  "  lying  vanities." 
One  spectacle  only  is  more  sad  and  alarming,  the 
idolatries,  the  mammon  worship,  the  indifference  and 
the  formality,  the  materialism  and  unbelief  which 
exist  at  home.  Within  the  heart  of  the  Church  of 
Christ,  more  than  anywhere  else,  the  battles  are  to 
be  fought  and  the  victories  gained,  which  will  insure 
the  spiritual  conquest  of  India,  and  ultimately  con- 
vert such  a  city  as  Benares  into  a  home  of  Christian 
worship. 

'^I  have  before  me  a  lecture,  delivered  in  December, 
1866,  by  a  native,  Lingam  Lakshmaji  Pantlu  Garu, 
before  the  Benares  Institute,  which  gives  anything 
but  a  flattering  account  of  "the  social  status  of  the 
Hindoos."  Whether  his  is  a  correct  account  or  not,  I 
cannot  tell.  But  it  is  interesting  as  being  the  judg- 
ment of  "  one  of  their  own  children,"  who,  one  would 
think,  must  be  well  informed  on  the  subject.     If  his 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES.  33 

statements  were  untrue,  he  would  hardly  dare  to 
give  them  forth  in  the  city  of  Benares,  and  among 
his  own  people. 

There  are  about  ten  missionaries  in  Benares,  sup- 
ported by  the  Church  Missionary  and  London  Mis- 
sionary Societies,  with  schools,  native  pastors  and 
teachers,  and  native  congregations.  Mr.  Kennedy, 
our  host,  who  is  connected  with  the  London  Mission, 
and  Mrs.  Leupoldt  of  the  Church  Mission,  have 
labored  here  for  twenty-six  years.  Here,  as  in  other 
parts  of  India,  we  have  evidences  that  the  combined 
forces  of  Western  culture  and  civilization,  together 
with  education  and  Christian  teaching,  are  slowly  but 
surely  creating  a  better  public  opinion,  and,  if  not 
making  many  individual  converts  as  yet,  are  most 
certainly  and  surely  preparing  the  way  for  greater 
results  in  the  future. 

There  is  also  in  Benares  a  very  handsome  govern- 
ment college,  which  I  had  time  only  to  glance  at.  It 
seemed  full  of  young  men,  and  was  presided  over  by 
a  distinguished  Oriental  scholar. 

And  now,  before  starting  for  Cawnpore  and  Luck- 
now,  I  must  say  a  few  words  about  the  great  mutiny, 
thoughts  of  which  possess  the  mind  in  visiting  those 
cities,  just  as  do  thoughts  of  battle,  and  thoughts  of 
the  bravery  of  our  countrymen,  when  we  visit  the 
field  of  Waterloo  and  the  ruins  of  Houguemont. 

As  we  peruse  the  many  narrations  of  such  a  terri- 
ble time  as  that  of  the  Indian  mutiny,  or  when  in 


34  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

silence  and  with  a  full  heart  we  pace  over  the  spots 
associated  with  the  awful  and  stirring  events  which 
these  describe,  we  find  it  difficult  to  "  set  them  in 
order"  before  the  mind,  and  to  form  a  clear  and  pre- 
cise idea  of  them,  any  more  than  when  reading  the 
account  of  a  fleet  bravely  combating  the  winds  and 
waves  of  a  furious  hurricane,  we  can  follow  the  evo- 
lutions of  each  vessel,  and  realize  the  details  of  the 
scene.  In  the  history  of  the  mutiny  all  seems  in- 
extricable confusion.  Innumerable  pictures  rapidly 
pass  before  the  eye  and  excite  our  wonder  and  our 
profoundest  sympathy:  large  armies  rising  against 
defenseless  men,  women,  and  children ;  officers  rudely 
massacred;  inconceivable  treachery;  robberies;  can- 
tonments on  fire;  miscreants  let  out  of  prison;  tele- 
graphs destroyed;  communication  cut  off;  defenses 
extemporized;  agonized  women  and  children  flying 
by  night  anywhere  to  escape  the  shouts  and  yells  of 
murderers  in  pursuit;  broken-hearted  husbands  and 
fathers,  in  nakedness  and  want,  wandering  through 
the  jungles  to  seek  shelter  in  vain,  and  dropping 
down  one  by  one  under  disease,  or  fatigue,  or  the 
stealthy  hand  of  the  assassin ;  heroic  defenses  rising 
everywhere  against  fearful  odds ;  with  sufferings, 
agonies,  escapes,  battles,  victories,  each  and  all  of 
tragic  interest ;  culminating  at  length  in  the  defense 
and  relief  of  Lucknow,  the  capture  of  Delhi,  which 
crown  a  history  of  such  indomitable  courage  as  cannot 
be  surpassed  by  that  of  Greek  or  Roman  fame. 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES.  35 

It  is  strange  to  be  reminded — as  one  often  is — how 
a  new  generation  has  already  grown  up,  who  do  not 
remember  these  occurrences,  and  know  little  of  them 
— although  to  many  of  us  they  seem  fresh  as  "the 
latest  intelligence"  of  the  daily  newspaper.  But  the 
memories  of  such  times  must  not  be  allowed  to  perish ! 
What  our  nation  has  suffered  and  achieved  in  the 
past  is  a  precious  inheritance  to  all  generations ;  and 
her  sins  and  chastisements,  as  well  as  her  deeds  of 
righteousness  and  her  triumphs,  should  live  in  our 
thoughts  as  lessons  for  our  warning  or  for  our  encour- 
agement. 

Those  who  wish  to  obtain  full  and  accurate  in- 
formation, gathered  from  the  most  authentic  sources, 
regarding  the  history  of  the  mutiny,  will  find  it  in 
Mr.  Kaye's  deeply  interesting  "  Sepoy  War."*  Yet, 
as  the  subject  of  the  mutiny  was  naturally  a  constant 
topic  of  conversation  with  those  whom  we  met  in 
India  who  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  leading 
events  of  that  memorable  time,  I  may  be  permitted 
to  say  a  few  words  on  the  subject. 

1.  It  was  not  a  rebelUon  of  the  country  against 
the  British  rule,  but  a  mutiny  of  the  soldiery — a 
"Sepoy  War"  only.  Accordingly,  as  a  rule,  the 
natives  of  power  or  political  influence  did  not  rise 
against  us ;  while  all  to  whom  we  had  shown  kind- 
ness, and  by  whom  we  had  dealt  justly,  stood  bravely 


*  The  first  volume  only  has  been  published  as  yet. 


36  DAYS  IN   NORTH  INDIA. 

by  us.  Men  of  wealth  everywhere,  who  had  any- 
thing to  lose,  did  the  same.  The  titular  King  of 
Delhi,  the  deposed  King  of  Oude,  Holkar,  the  mis- 
creant Nana  Sahib,  and  such  like,  had  suffered  real 
or  supposed  injuries  at  the  hands  of  our  government; 
while  others,  from  fear  or  from  hopes  of  booty,  were 
carried  away,  or  forced  into  the  movement  by  the 
fierce,  and,  for  a  time,  apparently  successful.  Sepoys. 
But,  with  such  exceptions  as  these,  our  enemies  were 
composed  of  the  soldiery — the  contents  of  broken-up 
jails  and  gangs  of  hereditary  robbers,  who  had  been 
kept  under  control  by  the  sheer  power  of  the  govern- 
ment. To  these  may  be  added  the  many  to  be  found 
everywhere  who  hoped  to  get  something  for  them- 
selves in  the  scramble. 

I  do  not  allege,  by  any  means,  that  the  natives 
did  not  rebel,  owing  to  their  affection  or  disaffection 
toward  our  people  and  our  government.*     It  must  be 

*  In  July,  1867,  a  confidential  circular  was  issued  by  the  Viceroy  to 
the  leading  civil  administrators  in  British  India,  demanding  their  opinion 
with  reference  to  the  correctness  of  a  doubt  expressed  by  the  present 
Marquis  of  Salisbury  (then  Lord  Cranbourne),  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, as  to  whether  the  system  of  British  administration  in  India  pos- 
sessed, in  the  minds  of  the  natives,  any  superiority  over  the  method  of 
government  pursued  in  the  Independent  States.  This  called  forth  about 
thirty  replies,  which  were  published  by  the  Indian  government  at  Cal- 
cutta, in  December,  1867.  In  this  correspondence  the  question  started 
is  fully  treated,  and  the  amplest  justice  is  done  to  all  sides  by  the  men 
most  competent  to  deal  with  such  a  matter.  It  impresses  one  very  deeply, 
I  think,  with  the  political  wisdom,  the  intellectual  grasp,  and  thorough 
fairness  and  honesty,  of  the  leading  civilians  who  practically  govern 
India — and  it  is  full  also  of  deeply-interesting  information. 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES.  37 

confessed  that  the  English  generally  are  not  popular. 
They  are  apt  to  be  distant  in  their  manners;  to 
show  a  large  amount  of  hauteur  and  pomposity;  to 
look  at  things  too  much  through  English  spectacles ; 
to  be  somewhat  wanting  in  social  sympathies  with 
foreigners,  as  well  as  in  the  fancy  and  imagination 
required  to  understand  Oriental  character.  And  to 
all  this  must  be  added  their  merely  temporary  resi- 
dence in  the  country,  and  the  utter  impossibility  of 
their  coming  into  close  contact  with  the  people,  owing 
to  wide  differences  in  language,  race,  and,  above  all, 
in  the  customs  and  feelings  springing  out  of  religion. 
Thus  it  is  that  the  Westerns  never  can  be  popular 
with  the  Easterns,  let  them  govern  ever  so  wisely  and 
well.  But  whether  popular  or  unpopular,  whether, 
on  the  whole,  wise  or  unwise,  it  remains  beyond  all 
question  that  ours  is  the  best  government  which  has 
ever  existed  in  India.  There  never  was  one  which 
has  so  benefited  the  masses  of  the  country,  or  given 
such  security  to  life  and  property.  Nor  have  any 
before  tried  so  honestly  to  do  their  duty,  or  been  so 
truly  a  "  terror  to  evil-doers  and  a  praise  to  them 
that  do  well." 

But  if  there  was  no  enthusiasm  for  us  as  a  people 
on  the  part  of  any  class,  there  was  a  positive  and 
undying  hatred  toward  us  on  the  part  of  the  Mo- 
hammedans, as  well  as  a  growing  dislike  entertained 
toward  us  by  the  orthodox  Hindoos  and  Brahmins. 
They  easily  perceived  that  their  old  civilization  was 


38  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

being  every  day,  and  in  many  forms,  brought  into 
direct  antagonism  with  ours ;  and  were  forced  to  the 
conclusion  that  theirs  must,  in  the  long  run,  give 
way.  As  to  the  rural  population  whom  we  have 
most  benefited,  they  often  behaved  very  well  and 
kindly  to  our  people  when  seeking  shelter  during  the 
mutiny.*  But  what  could  be  expected  from  these 
rude  and  ignorant  natives,  whose  own  superiors  and 
friends  had  risen  against  us?  What  knew  they  of 
past  governments,  so  as  to  be  able  to  contrast  them 
with  our  own  ?  All  they  knew  was,  that  Might 
alone  had  a  right  to  claim  their  homage  and  respect, 
and  as  this  seemed  no  longer  to  belong  to  the  Ferin- 
gees,  their  claims  were  gone !  The  peasants  and  the 
princes,  the  ryots  and  the  rajahs,  were  in  some  re- 
spects alike.  All  were  equally  indifferent  to  the 
English  race;    all  regarded  them  as  strangers  and 

*  Mr.  Kennedy,  our  host  while  at  Benares,  published  a  brief  but  well- 
written  account  of  the  "Great  Mutiny"  in  October,  1857.  In  writing 
on  this  point  he  speaks  thus  : 

"  To  see  European  gentlemen  and  ladies  fleeing  on  foot  for  their  lives, 
in  a  country  about  which  they  had  hitherto  ridden  in  carriages  as  the 
rulers  of  the  land,  was  an  extraordinary  spectacle  which  drew  forth 
wonder  and  pity.  We  have  heard  of  villagers  lifting  up  their  hands 
and  giving  expression  to  their  astonishment  in  the  strongest  terms.  Not 
a  few,  utterly  destitute,  wandered  among  them,  and  were  helped  and  re- 
lieved. We  have  known  of  a  major's  lady,  with  three  children,  the 
youngest  thirteen  months  old,  and  the  eldest  not  five  years,  without  a 
rupee,  without  a  change  of  clothing,  without  an  attendant,  wandering 
about  for  a  fortnight  in  a  very  turbulent  district,  and  everywhere 
treated  with  pity  and  kindness,  till  at  last  she  succeeded  in  reaching  a 
European  station.  For  every  such  instance  of  kindness  we  fear  ten  in- 
stances of  treachery  and  cruelty  might  be  adduced." 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES.  39 

aliens ;  and  all  worshiped  Power  de  facto,  without 
respect  to  dejure.  The  difference  between  them  was 
this,  that  the  poor  man  thought  he  might  gain  some- 
thing and  lose  nothing  by  a  revolution,  while  the  rich 
man  believed  the  reverse;  the  one  supposed  that 
power  belonged  to  the  Sepoy,  and  therefore  they  fol- 
lowed him;  the  other  believed  that  it  belonged  to 
the  government,  and  therefore  they  supported  it.  It 
was  thus  not  a  rebellion,  but  a  mutiny,  in  which, 
from  various  motives,  many  natives  sympathized,  but 
few  of  any  influence  assisted  either  by  men  or 
money. 

2.  But  what  occasioned  this  mutiny  among  our 
Sepoys,  who  had  so  long  fought  and  conquered  for 
us,  been  trusted  by  us,  and  officered  by  us  ?  This  has 
been  all  accounted  for  by  the  condition  of  the  Bengal 
army.  Its  discipline  had  become  lax;  its  feelings, 
its  whims  and  prejudices,  had  been  in  some  respects 
too  much  yielded  to,  while  in  others  they  were  not 
sufficiently  considered  and  respected.  Above  all,  the 
native  soldiery  apparently  held  all  power  in  its  own 
hands,  and  seemed  to  be  able  to  seize  the  whole 
country,  and  bring  back  the  reign  of  the  Moguls. 
Moreover,  the  Crimean  and  Persian  war  had  pre- 
vented British  troops  from  being  regularly  sent  to 
India.  Never  had  the  country,  with  its  treasuries, 
magazines,  and  forts,  been  so  entirely  given  up  to 
native  regiments  for  protection.  At  Cawnpore,  which 
used  to  have  a  strong  European  garrison,  with  in- 


40  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

fantry,  dragoons,  and  artillery,  there  was  but  one 
company  of  European  artillery,  and  a  large  native 
force.  In  the  whole  Province  of  Benares,  with  a 
population  nearly  three  times  greater  than  that  of  all 
Scotland,  when  the  mutiny  broke  out,  there  was  only 
a  European  force  of  twenty-five  artillerymen  and  sixty 
invalid  soldiers,  while  there  were  everywhere  native 
regiments  of  infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery !  Nor 
did  the  soldiers  of  the  Bengal  army,  like  those  of  the 
Madras  one,  have  their  wives  and  families  within 
their  lines,  their  homes  being  in  the  North,  generally 
in  Oude,  so  that  the  mutineers,  going  north,  fled  not 
from  their  families,  but  to  them.  One  check  against 
the  license  and  excess  that  ensued  was  thus  absent. 
Another  feature  of  the  army  was  the  presence  in  it  of 
so  many  Brahmins,*  who,  as  I  have  before  remarked, 


*  Mr.  Kennedy,  in  his  account,  writes  that  in  the  37th  Native  Infantiy 
which  mutinied  in  Benares,  there  were,  according  to  the  account  of  one 
officer,  400,  and  to  another,  600  Brahmins.  He  gives  the  following  de- 
scription of  these  Brahmins : 

"  It  is  commonly  thought  in  Europe  that  Brahmins  are  holy  men,  de- 
voted entirely  to  religious  services  ;  at  one  time  engaged  in  conducting 
the  worship  of  the  people,  and  then  studying  with  eagerness  the  Shastres, 
which  they  deem  the  productions  of  the  gods  and  sages ;  now  unfolding 
to  the  people  the  meaning  of  these  Shastres,  and  then,  as  their  spiritual 
guides,  applying  their  lessons  to  the  varied  phases  of  life ;  at  one  time 
dwelling  among  the  people  as  their  religious  teachers,  then  retiring  to 
the  wilderness  to  give  themselves  uninterruptedly  to  devotion  and  ascetic 
practices  ;  above  all,  regarding  life  with  the  utmost  sacredness,  shrinking 
from  taking  the  life  of  an  ant,  far  more  the  life  of  a  human  being.  To 
such  persons  the  announcement  must  be  startling,  that  Brahmins  abound 
in  the  Bengal  army.     Kesidents  in  India  know  well  that  Brahmins  form 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES.  41 

had  of  late  become  afraid  of  both  their  religion  and  of 
their  influence  being  weakened.  These  fears  had  been 
intensified  by  reports  of  an  intention  on  the  part  of 
government  to  send  them  for  service  abroad,  which 
would  destroy  their  caste;  and  no  doubt  the  question 
of  the  greased  cartridges,  though  chiefly  the  mere 
pretext,  was  also  to  some  extent  one  of  the  causes  of 
the  mutiny. 


in  many  districts  a  large  part  of  the  community  ;  that  they  are  a  race, 
rather  than  a  select  class  set  apart  for  select  work,  and  that  they  are 
obliged,  whatever  their  theoretic  views,  to  engage  largely  in  secular  em- 
ployments for  their  support.  Setting  aside  the  many  who  find  subsist- 
ence as  priests,  performers  of  ceremonies,  religious  teachers,  plodding 
scholars,  carriers  of  sacred  water,  guardians  of  sacred  places,  ascetics,  and 
religious  beggars,  there  remains  a  very  large  part  of  the  community  to  be 
otherwise  occupied  and  supported,  A  vast  number  of  them  are  so  illit- 
erate that  they  cannot  read  a  word,  but  whatever  their  work  may  be, 
they  never  forget  that  they  are  Brahmins.  They  have  had  it  instilled  into 
their  minds  from  their  earliest  years,  that  they  are  essentially  different 
from  and  superior  to  others,  and  that  it  is  only  an  iron  age  that  is  the 
cause  of  their  depression.  Of  their  deep  humiliation  during  a  large  part 
of  the  Mussulman  rule  they  know  little,  and  think  less  ;  but  the  most 
illiterate  among  them  are  familiar  with  the  traditions,  which  represent 
them  as  superior  even  to  the  gods.  In  thought  they  live  in  the  times  of 
which  their  poets  sing,  when  the  world  existed  only  for  the  glory  of  the 
Brahmins.  That  these  men  should  be  proud,  and  look  down  on  others 
with  contempt,  is  an  inevitable  consequence. 

"  Brahmins,  even  when  illiterate,  have  first-rate  talents  for  plotting, 
and  with  no  check  from  a  foreign  element  in  the  ranks,  it  would  be 
strange  if  their  talents  were  not  drawn  into  exercise.  They  are  also  in- 
tensely superstitious.  They  are  not  high-principled,  or  even,  as  a  body, 
orderly  in  their  lives,  but  their  immorality  is  quite  consistent  with  super- 
stitious zeal.  They  are  superstitious  from  policy,  as  well  as  from  educa- 
tion and  habit,  being  well  aware  that  the  downfall  of  Hindooism  would 
be  the  downfall  of  that  fancied  greatness,  to  which  they  attach  so  high  a 
value." 

4* 


42  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

Finally,  the  annexation  of  Oude,  with  expectations 
of  the  same  policy  being  followed  out  in  other  dis- 
tricts, added  fuel  to  the  flame.  The  people  of  Oude 
had  no  doubt  complained  to  the  British  resident  times 
and  ways  without  number  against  the  cruelties  and 
tyrannies  of  their  native  rulers,  and  of  the  lawless 
oppression  which  everywhere  prevailed.  A  more 
worthless  and  depraved  king  and  court,  a  more  in- 
famous horde  of  men  and  women,  than  that  which 
crowded  the  palaces  of  Lucknow  never  existed  upon 
earth.  They  lived  in  the  wildest  and  lowest  de- 
bauchery, from  the  half-idiotic  king  and  his  ministers 
down  to  the  troops  of  fiddlers,  dancing- girls,  and 
mountebanks.  The  country  was  sick  of  them.  Yet 
the  dethroning  of  the  whole  royal  race,  the  annexing 
of  a  whole  kingdom  with  its  revenues  to  the  British 
crown,  was  an  extreme,  and,  to  say  the  least,  a  doubt- 
ful measure,  according  to  the  judgment  of  some  of 
the  ablest  men  in  India.  And  to  this  was  added  the 
unwise  treatment  of  the  Thalookdars.  These  native 
aristocrats  lived  in  their  own  feudal  castles  in  the 
midst  of  the  jungles,  defended  by  their  own  guns  and 
followers.  They  might  have  been  gained  to  our  side, 
but  from  some  of  our  "hard  and  fast"  red-tapeism 
they  were  turned  against  us,  so  that  the  kingdom  of 
Oude  was  really  in  rebellion.  The  soldiers  of  the 
Bengal  army  were  deeply  affected  by  this ;  for  they 
were  chiefly  recruited  from  Oude,  and  all  their  rela- 
tives were  there. 


CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES.  43 

But  I  will  not  dwell  longer  upon  this  subject  at 
present.  Other  sides  and  features  of  the  mutiny  will 
fixll  to  be  considered  as  we  proceed  in  our  narrative. 
We  must  move  on  to  Allahabad,  Cawnpore,  and 
Lucknow. 


;niri7EESIT7] 


CHAPTER  11. 


FROM  ALLAHABAD  TO  LUCKNOW. 


To  a  European,  the  most  attractive  feature  of  Al- 
lahabad is  the  Fort.  Its  huge  red  sandstone  walls 
and  bastions  rise  with  imposing  effect  from  the  angle 


FORT   AT    ALLAHABAD. 


of  ground  which,  washed  by  the  Jumna  and  Ganges, 
forms  the  terminating  point  of  the  district  named  the 
(44) 


ALLAHABAD    TO   LUC  KNOW.  45 

Doab.  This  fort,  it  is  said,  was  originally  Hindoo. 
It  may  be  so;  but,  beyond  doubt,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  last  scientific  touches  given  to  it  by  the 
British,  the  great  Akbar  made  it  what  it  now  is.  He 
it  was  who  reared  its  magnificent  gateway,  and  great 
hall  of  audience  within,  both  of  which  bear  witness 
to  the  stateliness  of  his  designs. 

The  two  most  interesting  sights  within  the  fort 
are  an  underground  temple,  of  vast  antiquity,  which 
we  visited,  and  a  lat  or  pillar  of  Asokas,  erected  three 
centuries  before  Christ,  recording  certain  statutes  in 
an  old  character  of  the  ancient  Pali  language. 

But  I  confess  that,  during  my  brief  visit  to  the 
North,  my  thoughts  were  wholly  occupied  by  the 
events  of  the  great  mutiny  of  1857,  at  least  until  I 
reached  Agra  and  Delhi,  whose  magnificent  archi- 
tectural remains  in  some  degree  broke  the  mesmeric 
influence  of  that  stirring  time.  Many  persons  may 
very  naturally  suppose  that  these  events  are  so  fresh 
in  the  memory  of  our  nation  as  to  render  any  notice 
of  them  unnecessary;  but  we  forget  that  since  they 
took  place  there  has  risen  up  a  generation  who  at 
that  date  were  mere  children,  and  who — as  I  have 
learned  by  several  conversations  on  the  subject — are 
singularly  ignorant  of  the  memorable  events  to  which 
I  allude.  It  therefore  seems  to  me  to  be  a  duty  im- 
posed upon  those  who,  owing  to  exceptional  circum- 
stances, are  able  to  discharge  it,  to  keep  alive  the 
knowledge  of  the  sacrifices  then  made,  the  sufferings 


[Q  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

endured,  and  the  brave  deeds  achieved  by  our  coun- 
trymen ;  and,  more  than  all,  to  cause  our  people  to 
remember  what  the  great  King  of  heaven  and  earth 
has  done  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  establishment  in 
India  of  that  "  kingdom  which  cannot  be  moved." 

As  our  associations  at  Benares  were  gathered  round 
General  Neill,  I  could  not  but  recall  the  only  time  I 
had  ever  seen  him.  It  was  at  a  meeting,  I  forget  for 
what  purpose,  in  the  parish  church  of  Dairy,  Ayr- 
shire. Suddenly,  at  the  conclusion  of  one  of  the 
speeches,  he  entered  the  church,  and  appeared  on  the 
platform.  "My  friends,"  he  said,  slowly  and  thought- 
fully, "  I  go  to-morrow  to  join  the  Turkish  Contingent, 
engaged  in  the  Crimean  war.  I  may  never  see  you 
again.  I  have  come  here  to-night  to  bid  you  farewell 
— to  ask  you  not  to  forget  me;"  and  then  pausing  for 
a  little,  he  added  in  a  quiet  and  solemn  undertone, 
"  and  to  ask  you  to  pray  for  me."  Before  a  word 
could  be  spoken  out  of  the  full  hearts  of  his  old 
friends  he  had  bowed  and  departed. 

It  was  this  man  who  saved  Benares  and  Alla- 
habad. 

The  mutiny  had  burst  forth  with  unmistakable 
fury  and  strength  at  Meerut  on  the  10  th  of  May, 
1857,  when  a  general  massacre  of  officers  took  place. 
I  knew  well  the  first  who  was  cut  down  there!  He 
had  just  joined  his  regiment.  With  simple  truth 
I  write  it,  that  he  was  at  once  the  handsomest  young 
man  and    the  most  beautiful — I  can  use  no  other 


<^  Of  ID     *  .^ 


ALLAHABAD    TO  LUCKNOW.  49 

word — I  ever  saw.  He  was  a  Christian,  too,  of  the 
noblest  mould,  and  altogether  he  was  to  me  a  very 
ideal  in  soul,  spirit,  and  body. 

It  was  on  the  3d  of  June  that  Neill  arrived  a 
Benares  after  the  famous  scene  at  the  Howrah  sta- 
tion of  the  Calcutta  Railway,  which  has  been  already 
described.  On  the  same  day  the  last  telegram  had 
been  flashed  from  the  beleaguered  force  in  Cawnpore. 
Benares,  as  my  readers  can  now  understand,  was  the 
very  center  of  Brahminical  influence.  As  with  most 
other  places  in  India  at  that  awful  time,  there  were 
but  few  Europeans  in  it,  and  the  native  troops  had 
things  all  their  own  way.  But  Neill  had  pushed  on, 
and  arrived  just  in  time — for  details  cannot  be  here 
given — to  deal  such  a  sudden  and  decided  blow  to 
the  mutineers  as  saved  the  city. 

Eighty  miles  off",  along  the  Ganges  to  the  north, 
was  the  great  fort  of  Allahabad.  This  was  the  king 
of  the  districts  in  revolt,  the  city  of  refuge  for  fugi- 
tives, the  one  rally ing-place  north  of  Calcutta.  Let 
me  try  and  give  my  readers  some  idea  of  the  state  of 
matters  at  this  fort  early  in  June.  They  may  be 
briefly  summarized:  News  from  Meerut;  indefinite 
rumors  filling  people's  minds  with  alarms ;  the  fort  in 
possession  of  sixty  invalided  European  artillerymen, 
with  a  wing  of  a  treacherous  native  regiment  and  a 
Sikh  regiment  ready  for  royalty  or  plunder  as  it 
suited — Sir  H.  Lawrence  having  telegraphed  not  to 
trust  them.     Europeans,   merchants,  civilians,  with 


50  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

wives  and  children,  enter  the  fort.  False  news  from 
Benares  on  June  5th,  which  cast  a  gloom  over  all. 
On  the  6th  June,  no  outbreak,  and  people  more 
cheerful.  At  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  that  day 
a  parade  of  the  6th  Native  Infantry,  who  were  in 
cantonments  about  three  miles  from  Allahabad. 
These  gallant  and  loyal  men,  faithful  among  the 
faithless,  with  great  enthusiasm  had  volunteered  to 
march  to  Delhi  and  to  fight  with  us!  Was  it  not 
noble  of  them?  Their  officers  were  justly  proud; 
and  so  was  government.  A  letter  of  thanks  from  the 
Governor-General  was  read  to  them  on  parade  at  six 
p.M ,  and  the  warm-hearted  loyal  men  were  very 
naturally  gratified  by  this  recognition  of  their  serv- 
ices, and  cheered  loudly.  The  same  evening  these 
fine  fellows  broke  out  into  mutiny,  and  in  the  mess- 
house  of  their  regiment  murdered  in  cold  blood  seven- 
teen officers,  eight  of  whom  were  young  cadets,  who, 
just  arrived  from  England,  were  full  of  life  and  hope! 
Some  officers  escaped,  and  two  of  them,  after  great 
exertions  and  long  swims,  managed  to  get  into  the 
fort.  But  before  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  June 
thirty-one  Europeans,  male  and  female,  had  been 
massacred.  "  Early  in  the  morning  the  jail  gates 
were  thrown  open,  and  3000  ruffians  and  many  thou- 
sand miscreants  from  its  wards,  rushed  eagerly  to 
help  in  the  deeds  of  that  night.  Soon  the  whole 
horizon  looking  north  and  west  from  the  ramparts  of 
the  fort  became  one  mass  of  flame  and  lurid  smoke, 


ALLAHABAD    TO  LUGKNOW.  51 

from  which  issued  the  yells  and  shrieks  of  thousands 
of  infuriated  devils  doing  the  work  of  plunder  and 
rapine.'"^' 

The  learned  American  missionary,  Dr.  Owen,  de- 
scribed to  me  his  feelings  as,  from  the  ramparts,  he 
saw  his  house  and  valuable  library  blazing  in  the 
distance ! 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  and  around  Allaha- 
bad, the  Fort  of  Refuge,  on  the  6th  of  June.  All 
was  darkness  and  despair!  But  next  day  fifty  (only 
fifty!)  of  Neill's  regiment,  the  '^Madras  Lambs," 
arrived  at  the  Benares  end  of  the  Bridge  of  Boats, 
which  was  in  possession  of  the  enemy.  These  noble 
fellows,  "by  hook  or  by  crook,"  had  the  previous 
night  got  over  the  eighty  miles  which  separated 
them  from  Benares.  Yet,  owing  to  wretched  bun- 
gling, it  was  not  till  the  evening  that  they  could  be 
got  into  the  fort.  On  the  9th  another  detachment 
arrived.  Best  of  all,  on  the  11th  Neill  himself  came 
into  view.  India  was  then  a  furnace.  Men  fell 
down  with  sunstroke.  "  Fancy  me,"  he  writes, 
"  walking  a  mile  through  burning  river  sand ;  it 
nearly  killed  me.  I  only  lived  by  having  water 
dashed  over  me.     When  I  got  into  the  open  boat, 


*  While  writing  this  I  have  before  me  the  documents  regarding  the 
mutiny,  which  were  furnished  to  the  Indian  government  by  the  authori- 
ties in  the  districts  involved  in  the  outbreak,  and  which  were  kindly 
given  me.  The  reader  is  referred  to  Mr.  Kaye's  forthcoming  volumes 
as  presenting  the  fullest  and  most  authentic  account  of  this  memorable 
time. 

5 


52  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

my  umbrella  was  my  only  covering.  Two  of  our 
lads  died  with  sunstroke  in  the  boat.  That  I  escaped 
is  one  of  the  greatest  mercies.  The  Europeans 
cheered  me  when  I  came  in.  The  salute  of  the 
sentries  at  the  gate  was,  *  Thank  you,  sir,  you'll  save 
us  yet.' "  Neill  was  done  up  with  the  "  terrific  heat." 
He  could  not  stand,  but  was  obliged  "  to  sit  down  at 
the  batteries  and  give  orders."  But  these  orders  were 
such  as  to  clear  the  fort  of  all  doubtful  characters; 
the  mutineers  being  beaten  out  of  all  their  positions 
around  it,  the  blessed  telegraph  could  at  length  be 
flashed  to  Calcutta,  "Allahabad  is  safe  !" 

One  very  touching  incident  is  recorded  in  the 
authentic  documents  from  which  I  quote,  and  which 
though  narrated  before  may  be  repeated.  The  Moul- 
vee  or  Mohammedan  priest  who  had  been  at  the 
head  of  the  mutineers  had  fled,  leaving  behind  in  his 
terror  a  number  of  native  Christians,  who  had  been 
his  prisoners.  These  were  brought  into  the  fort. 
"Among  them  was  poor  young  Cheek,  a  cadet,  who 
died  the  same  evening,  his  body  covered  with  wounds 
and  sores,  and  his  mind  wandering.  His  sufferings 
from  the  night  of  the  6th  must  have  been  dreadful ; 
he  had  escaped  with  severe  wounds  from  the  mess- 
house,  and  was  picked  up  by  a  zemindar,  by  whom 
he  was  given  over  to  the  Moulvee,  in  whose  house 
he  had  remained  exposed  and  uncared  for  until  this 
time.  Nauth  Nundee,  a  native  Christian  and  fellow- 
prisoner,  relates  that  when  the  Moulvee  sought  by 


ALLAHABAD    TO   LUG  KNOW.  53 

threats  and  wiles  to  make  him  abjure  Christianity, 
this  brave  young  officer  would  call  out  to  him,  'Never 
let  go  the  faith!'" 

Neill  was  burning  to  reach  Cawnpore.  Tremen- 
dous difficulties  were  in  the  way.  And  as  if  to  deepen 
the  already  dark  tragedy  of  woe  everywhere  gather- 
ing over  our  countrymen,  there  now  broke  out  the 
terrible  cholera.  On  the  18th  of  June  it  appeared 
in  Allahabad,  and,  when  precious  gold  could  not  be 
weighed  against  more  precious  men,  forty  out  of  a 
hundred  Fusileers  were  cut  down!  But  detachment 
after  detachment  was  gathering  at  the  fort.  Women 
and  children  were  sent  down  by  steamers  to  Benares. 
On  the  30th  of  June  General  Neill  was  sending  off  a 
small  force  of  four  hundred  of  his  noble  Fusileers,  four 
hundred  and  fifty  native  cavalry,  Sikhs  and  Irregu- 
lars, to  Cawnpore.  Havelock  had  arrived  at  Allaha- 
bad on  July  1.  By  the  7th  he  had  started  for  Cawn- 
pore, and  by  the  15th  he  was  followed  by  Neill.  It 
was  too  late! 

Cawnpore !  How  strange  it  seemed  to  hear  that 
name  bawled  out  as,  just  awakened  out  of  sleep,  we 
reached  the  city  railway ! 

We  drove  through  under  the  guidance  of  our  good 
host,  Mr.  Lance.  Nothing  of  any  interest  whatever 
is  visible  to  the  eye.  The  situation,  dust  excepted, 
is  agreeable  enough  for  a  large  military  station,  with 
comfortable  bungalows ;  broad,  beautiful,  and  smooth 


52  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

my  umbrella  was  my  only  covering.  Two  of  our 
lads  died  with  sunstroke  in  the  boat.  That  I  escaped 
is  one  of  the  greatest  mercies.  The  Europeans 
cheered  me  when  I  came  in.  The  salute  of  the 
sentries  at  the  gate  was,  *  Thank  you,  sir,  you'll  save 
us  yet.' "  Neill  was  done  up  with  the  "  terrific  heat." 
He  could  not  stand,  but  was  obliged  "  to  sit  down  at 
the  batteries  and  give  orders."  But  these  orders  were 
such  as  to  clear  the  fort  of  all  doubtful  characters; 
the  mutineers  being  beaten  out  of  all  their  positions 
around  it,  the  blessed  telegraph  could  at  length  be 
flashed  to  Calcutta,  "Allahabad  is  safe  !" 

One  very  touching  incident  is  recorded  in  the 
authentic  documents  from  which  I  quote,  and  which 
though  narrated  before  may  be  repeated.  The  Moul- 
vee  or  Mohammedan  priest  who  had  been  at  the 
head  of  the  mutineers  had  fled,  leaving  behind  in  his 
terror  a  number  of  native  Christians,  who  had  been 
his  prisoners.  These  were  brought  into  the  fort. 
"Among  them  was  poor  young  Cheek,  a  cadet,  who 
died  the  same  evening,  his  body  covered  with  wounds 
and  sores,  and  his  mind  wandering.  His  sufferings 
from  the  night  of  the  6th  must  have  been  dreadful ; 
he  had  escaped  with  severe  wounds  from  the  mess- 
house,  and  was  picked  up  by  a  zemindar,  by  whom 
he  was  given  over  to  the  Moulvee,  in  whose  house 
he  had  remained  exposed  and  uncared  for  until  this 
time.  Nauth  Nundee,  a  native  Christian  and  fellow- 
prisoner,  relates  that  when  the  Moulvee  sought  by 


ALLAHABAD    TO   LUC  KNOW.  53 

threats  and  wiles  to  make  him  abjure  Christianity, 
this  brave  young  officer  would  call  out  to  him,  'Never 
let  go  the  faith!'" 

Neill  was  burning  to  reach  Cawnpore.  Tremen- 
dous difficulties  were  in  the  way.  And  as  if  to  deepen 
the  already  dark  tragedy  of  woe  everywhere  gather- 
ing over  our  countrymen,  there  now  broke  out  the 
terrible  cholera.  On  the  18th  of  June  it  appeared 
in  Allahabad,  and,  when  precious  gold  could  not  be 
weighed  against  more  precious  men,  forty  out  of  a 
hundred  Fusileers  were  cut  down!  But  detachment 
after  detachment  was  gathering  at  the  fort.  Women 
and  children  were  sent  down  by  steamers  to  Benares. 
On  the  30th  of  June  General  Neill  was  sending  off  a 
small  force  of  four  hundred  of  his  noble  Fusileers,  four 
hundred  and  fifty  native  cavalry,  Sikhs  and  Irregu- 
lars, to  Cawnpore.  Havelock  had  arrived  at  Allaha- 
bad on  July  1.  By  the  7th  he  had  started  for  Cawn- 
pore, and  by  the  15th  he  was  followed  by  Neill.  It 
was  too  late! 

Cawnpore !  How  strange  it  seemed  to  hear  that 
name  bawled  out  as,  just  awakened  out  of  sleep,  we 
reached  the  city  railway ! 

We  drove  through  under  the  guidance  of  our  good 
host,  Mr.  Lance.  Nothing  of  any  interest  whatever 
is  visible  to  the  eye.  The  situation,  dust  excepted, 
is  agreeable  enough  for  a  large  military  station,  with 
comfortable  bungalows ;  broad,  beautiful,  and  smooth 


,iA 


54  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

drives ;  ample  means  of  recreation  in  assembly-rooms, 
clubs,  theaters,  race-courses;  with  all  the  driving  to 
and  fro,  the  making  of  calls,  partaking  of  social  enter- 
tainments, flirtations,  gossip,  and  the  et-caeteras  of  a 
civil  and  military  society  of  English  ladies  and  gentle- 
men. But  were  it  not  for  the  immortal  associations  of 
the  mutiny,  in  which  what  is  deepest  and  rarest  in  the 
British  character  came  out,  there  is  little  in  Cawnpore 
to  arrest  the  attention  of  a  traveler.  Where  once  the 
desperate  defense  was  made,  he  sees  only  a  flat  green 
or  dusty  plain;  where  the  awful  slaughter-house 
stood,  he  sees  a  flower  garden  of  beautiful  roses ;  the 
Ghat  of  the  Massacre  appears  but  a  commonplace 
river -bank,  with  an  insignificant -looking  temple, 
washed  by  the  kindly  waters  of  the  Ganges;  and 
the  well  which  includes  the  remains  of  those  whose 
memory  during  this  generation  will  sadden  many  an 
English  home,  looks  only  a  nice  bit  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture. 

But  if  with  a  fresh  memory  of  that  time,  or  with 
such  an  eloquent  and  exhaustive  volume  as  that  of 
Mr.  Trevelyan,  for  example,  one  visits  those  never- 
to-be-forgotten  places,  then  all  is  changed  into  a  scene 
of  intensest  interest. 

A  few  facts  may  be  recorded  to  revive  in  some 
degree  the  memory  of  that  sad  but  glorious  past, 
and  of  the  price  paid  there  and  elsewhere  for  our 
possession  of  British  India. 

Let  the  reader  picture  to  himself  a   large   open 


ALLAHABAD    TO   LUC  KNOW. 


55 


space,   perfectly  flat,    covered    with    dust,    and    sur- 
rounded by  a  parapet  of  earth  about  five  feet  high. 


~~  i~^       HOUSE  ox<riirMi\-»'-/ji 

"y^JTTIIC   NANA 


MAP   OF   CAWNPORE. 


It  was  miserable  shelter  to  those  who  worked  guns 
with  large  embrasures !     At  the  end  of  this,  in  the 

5* 


^TJSIVBRSIT 


ALLAHABAD    TO  LUC  KNOW.  59 

On  the  26tli  of  June  the  Nana  offered  terms  of 
surrender.  This  notoriously  worthless  character  was 
the  adopted  son  of  the  Peishwa  of  Poonah,  to  whom, 
as  I  formerly  stated,  Sir  John  Malcolm — after  the 
Mahrattah  had  played  the  villain  and  had  been  well 
thrashed  for  it — gave  a  pension  of  £80,000  a  year, 
with  the  fine  property  of  Bithoor  near  Cawnpore. 
His  adopted  son,  the  said  Nana,  inherited  all  the 
Peishwa's  property,  and  was  allowed  a  guard  of  five 
hundred  cavalry  to  give  him  state ;  but  he  was  re- 
fused the  immense  pension  which  had  been  granted' 
to  the  Peishwa.  This  rankled  in  his  breast.  He 
was  surrounded  by  men  like-minded  with  himself — 
such  men  as  Tantia  Topee,  Azim  Moolah,  the  oily 
Mohammedan  who,  serpent-like,  basked  in  English 
society,  visited  the  Crimea,  and  is  well  described  by 
" Russell  of  the  Times"  who  met  him  there. 

In  utter  despair,  dying  day  by  day,  the  garrison 
capitulated  on  being  promised  by  the  Nana  a  safe 
conduct  by  boat  to  Allahabad. 

Let  the  reader  now  look  at  the  illustration  of  the 
Ghat  of  the  Massacre.  The  water  is  the  Ganges,  the 
building  is  a  small  Hindoo  temple.  Above  the  steep 
banks  descending  to  the  Ganges  is  a  flat  space  of 
ground,  and  rising  above  it  again  is  an  inclosure, 
within  which  was  a  village.  This  spot  is  about  a 
mile  from  the  place  where  our  people  were  intrenched. 
A  narrow  and  rough  kind  of  ravine  for  about  a  third 
of  the  way  leads  to  the  ghat.     Down  this  ravine  all 


60  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

that  noble  band  slowly  streamed  on  the  27th  of  June 
— sick  and  wounded,  soldiers  and  officers  under  arms, 
long  lines  of  women  and  children,  pallid  and  care- 
worn, yet  thankful  for  any  hope  of  deliverance. 
Twenty  huge  boats,  each  some  twenty  feet  long  and 
twelve  feet  broad,  with  thatched  poops,  were  ranged 
along  that  bank  to  convey  them  down  the  stream  to 
Allahabad.  Ten  thousand  people  from  Cawnpore  had 
gathered  to  see  this  long  and  grand  procession,  and 
to  witness  the  embarkation  of  the  wonderful  people 
who  had  fought  with  such  courage,  and  endured  with 
such  resolution.  When  they  were  well  into  the 
ravine,  high  banks  rising  up  on  either  side,  cavalry 
were  drawn  up  across  the  rear,  Tantia'Topee  and 
his  select  friends  watching  the  whole  scene  from  the 
temple.  When  all  were  entrapped  and  the  boats 
crowded,  the  signal  was  given,  and  the  thatched 
roofs  of  the  boats  set  on  fire.  With  the  exception  of 
three,  the  boats  were  immovably  aground ;  and  the 
boatmen,  after  setting  them  ablaze,  leaped  on  shore. 
Then  a  tremendous  musketry  fire  opened  from  hun- 
dreds who  had  till  now  been  carefully  concealed  in 
the  ground  above.  Guns  roared  from  the  opposite 
shore,  from  the  temple,  from  the  banks.  Everywhere 
massacre!  Struggles,  blood,  wounds,  flame,  smoke, 
drowning,  screaming,  and  wild  and  indescribable  hor- 
ror of  horrors  !  In  vain  two  or  three  boats  make  ofi*; 
in  vain  men  swim  or  fight  for  their  lives.  Except  two 
or  three  who  escaped  as  by  miracle,  all  the  men  were 


ALLAHABAD    TO   LUG  KNOW.  61 

slain.  Old  Sir  Hugh  was  cut  down  among  the  first 
as  he  was  getting  out  of  his  palanquin.  Wet,  wounded, 
and  bleeding,  upwards  of  one  hundred  women  and  chil- 
dren were  brought  back  to  Cawnpore  and  locked  up 
till  wanted! 

They  were  shortly  after  joined  by  the  separate 
bands  of  fugitives  from  Futtyghur,  about  sixty  miles 
farther  up  the  river.  A  magnificent  defense  had 
been  made  there,  also  against  overwhelming  num- 
bers, by  about  thirty  men,  who  protected  seventy  or 
eighty  women  and  children  in  a  ruined  fort,  which 
they  were  forced  to  abandon.  They  tried  by  boats 
to  reach  Allahabad,  but  were  made  prisoners  by  the 
Nan  as  troops.  All  the  men  were  butchered  by  him; 
while  the  women  and  children  were  added  to  the 
number  already  in  the  house  at  Cawnpore!  There, 
in  two  rooms,  twenty  feet  by  ten,  two  hundred  and 
six  European  ladies  and  children  were  for  a  fortnight 
pent  up  during  the  burning  heat  of  an  Eastern 
summer. 

Havelock  had  started  from  Allahabad  on  the  6th 
July.  Battle  after  battle  had  been  fought  until  he 
entered  Cawnpore  on  the  17th.  But  there  was  not 
a  person  from  his  suffering  countrymen  alive  to  re- 
ceive him !  He  and  his  noble  troops  were  received 
apparently  with  joy  by  the  inhabitants  of  Cawnpore, 
who  had  grievously  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the 
rebellious  soldiers.  They  gazed  with  wonder  on  the 
ruined  in  trench  men  ts;  but  no  English  voice  greeted 


62 


DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 


them.  Two  days  before,  all  had  been  massacred, 
and,  whether  alive  or  dead,  hurled  into  the  well, 
which  has  ever  since  been  almost  a  holy  place  in  our 


MEMORIAI.    W  JiLL,  CAWNPORK, 


memories.  A  beautiful  garden  grows  its  roses  and 
other  flowers  where  that  awful  slaughter-house  once 
stood.  The  well  has  been  covered  by  the  adorn- 
ments of  architecture,  a  white  marble  angel  of  peace, 


ALLAHABAD    TO  LUCKNOW. 


63 


by  Marochetti,  standing  over  it,  and  around  it  a  pro- 
tecting wall  of  Gothic  design. 


MEMORIAL    WELL,  WITH    CHURCH    IN    DISTANCE. 

The  agents  in  that  fearful  tragedy  have,  I  believe, 
gone  to  their  account.  The  butchers  who  were  per- 
sonally engaged  in  it  were  all  discovered  and  exe- 
cuted. I  saw  the  spot  near  the  ravine,  where  the 
last  had  been  hanged.  Tantia  Topee,  after  a  long 
chase  of  months,  was  at  last  run  down,  and  hanged 
by  Sir  Hugh  Rose.  The  Nana  and  his  immediate 
followers  have  beyond  doubt  died  ere  now,  though 
they  were  never  betrayed — to  the  credit,  so  far,  of  the 
people.  When  last  heard  of,  years  ago,  they  were 
wandering  in  terror  among  the  jungles  and  forests 
of  Nepaul.  We  dare  not  too  severely  condemn  our 
troops  as  blood-thirsty  or  cruel  for  the  terrible 
'vengeance  which   they   took  when   any  opportunity 

•IVBKSITTj 


64  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

offered  itself  of  doing  so,  and  when  all  the  falsehoods 
were  believed  regarding  the  treatment  of  the  women 
and  children.  The  sight  of  that  bloody  house  and 
awful  well  fired  them  with  a  maddening  passion. 
All  natives  were  alike  in  their  eyes.  In  each  they 
recognized  the  Nana,  one  who  had  been  guilty  of 
atrocities  which  intensified  the  wickedness  of  the 
most  wicked. 

But  in  order,  as  far  as  our  public  influence  extends, 
to  mitigate  the  effects  of  that  awful  time  in  widening 
the  breach  already  so  greatly  to  be  lamented,  between 
us  and  our  fellow-citizens  in  India,  let  us  join  in  pub- 
licly confessing,  with  shame  and  sorrow,  the  wild 
and  indiscriminate  slaughter  and  execution  perpe- 
trated afterward  in  cooler  blood,  when  Christian  gen- 
tlemen murdered  "Pan dies"  in  a  spirit  which  sunk 
them  below  the  level  of  their  enemies.  We  have 
not  come  out  of  the  mutiny  with  clean  hcinds.  In 
many  things,  both  before  and  after  it,  we  have  been 
grievously  to  blame.  Many  a  story  is  doubtless  told 
in  the  bazaars  that  would  make  us  blush  if  we  heard 
it,  and  make  us  feel  that  it  might  be  fitting  for  us  to 
ask  forgiveness  as  well  as  to  extend  it.  If  we  and 
the  natives  have  endured  common  sufferings,  we  have 
been  guilty  of  common  sins.  It  should  also  be  known 
to  our  countrymen,  what  was  ascertained  shortly 
after  the  mutiny,  and  has  been  confirmed  since  by 
the  most  careful  investigations  on  the  part  of  the 
India  government,  and  often  before  now  published, — 


ALLAHABAD    TO   LUCKNOW.  65 

that  there  never  has  been  substantiated  any  cases  of  muti- 
latimi,  or  torture^  or  the  dishonor  of  any  tooman  ;  that 
the  horrors  of  Cawnpore  were  the  work  of  the  Nana 
only  and  his  vile  adherents ;  that  even  his  soldiers  re- 
fused to  massacre  the  women  and  children,  which  was 
accomplished  by  the  vilest  of  the  vile  in  the  city.  We 
would  remember  also  that  while  the  natives  cannot 
be  expected  to  love  the  English,  but  naturally  to 
dislike  them  as  aliens  in  race  and  religion,  with 
whom  as  a  race  there  can  be  no  real  sympathy,  nor 
bonds  of  anything  like  personal  attachment,  yet  that 
all  the  most  influential  classes  who  had  anything  to 
lose  generally  sided  with  us,  and  very  many  even  in 
the  darkest  hour  lent  us  their  valuable  aid.  We  may 
have  an  underlying  impression  of  the  evil  done  to  us, 
but  let  us  not  add,  "  by  the  natives,"  from  a  hasty 
generalization,  nor  darken  the  picture  by  more  som- 
ber colors  than  those  warranted  by  fact.  And  above 
all,  let  our  people  in  India,  more  especially  young 
officers,  by  all  that  is  truly  brave  and  generous,  en- 
deavor to  heal  this  grievous  wound,  and  so  impress 
the  natives  by  the  force  of  their  character  as  well  as 
by  the  power  of  their  arms,  that  the  Hindoos  may 
one  day  thank  God  for  the  supremacy  of  Great 
Britain. 

I  visited  the  grave-yards  in  Cawnpore  containing 
"  our  English  dead  :"  a  new  one  in  the  Park,  and  an 
old  one,  large  and  full  of  tombs,  in  another  quarter. 
Those  burial-places  in  India  were  always  to  me  pe- 

6 


66  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA, 

culiarly  sad.  One  felt  as  if  some  wrong  had  been 
done  toward  every  one  who  lay  there,  or  that  some 
peculiar  suffering  had  been  endured  by  them.  Why 
were  they  not  beside  their  own  people  at  home? 
There  is  no  grave  here  where  a  family  reposes. 
Children  are  here,  but  their  parents  and  brothers 
and  sisters  are  far  away.  Young  soldiers  and  old 
veterans  are  here,  men  who  had  just  come  to  India 
full  of  hope  and  ambition,  and  those  who,  after  a  life 
of  toil,  were  just  about  to  leave  it  to  spend  the  even- 
ing of  their  days  elsewhere.  Alone  they  had  lived 
in  a  strange  land,  and  alone  had  died.  No  one  had 
been  there  to  speak  to  them  of  the  old  familiar  faces, 
nor  to  understand  their  "  babbling  about  the  green 
fields,"  in  their  dreams  of  the  far-oJ0f  home.  Alone 
they  were  buried,  with  no  kith  or  kin  to  follow  their 
bier,  or  "fathers"  to  whom  they  could  be  "gathered.". 
Alone  they  were  left  by  all  who  knew  them,  to  be 
utterly  forgotten  in  the  land  of  their  sojourning. 
Every  grave  seems  a  record  of  long-cherished  hopes 
never  realized,  and  of  an  unexpected  and  premature 
sorrow  endured  by  those  who  for  years  were  antici- 
pating the  joy  of  bidding  them  welcome  home  again. 
But  there  were  some  graves  I  visited  which  will 
not  readily  pass  into  oblivion  either  in  India  or  Eng- 
land. Chief  among  these  was  that  of  the  gallant 
Peel.  With  deep  interest  I  stood  beside  his  tomb 
and  read  the  inscription — "  To  the  memory  of  Wil- 
liam Peel.     His  name  will  be  dear  to  the  British 


ALLAHABAD    TO  LUGKNOW.  67 

inhabitants  of  India,  to  whose  succor  he  came  in  the 
hour  of  need.  He  was  one  of  Enghxnd's  most  de- 
voted sons.  With  all  the  talents  of  a  brave  and 
skillful  sailor,  he  combined  the  virtues  of  a  humble, 
sincere  Christian.  This  stone  is  erected  over  his  re- 
mains by  his  military  friends  in  India,  and  several  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Calcutta.  Captain  Sir  William 
Peel,  R.N.,  K.C.B.,  was  born  in  Stanhope  Street, 
Mayfair,  on  the  2d  Nov.  1824,  and  died  at  Cawn- 
pore,  27th  April,  1858." 

I  saw  another  grave,  which  recorded  the  death  of 
one  whom  I  knew  and  loved.  He  was  an  officer  of 
the  78th,  and  a  young  man  of  great  promise.  The 
call  to  arms  found  him  in  infirm  health,  at  home 
with  his  wife  and  family.  But  full  of  spirit  and  pre- 
pared to  die,  he  promptly  responded  to  the  summons. 
He  fought  his  way  with  Havelock  to  Cawnpore,  and 
on  the  day  when  he  would  have  got  his  company 
and  the  Victoria  Cross  he  died. 

There  is  also  a  small  monumental  cross  with  this 
inscription,  "  In  memory  of  the  women  and  children 
of  H.  M.  32d  Regiment  who  were  slaughtered  near 
this  spot.  This  memorial  was  raised  by  twenty  men 
of  the  same  regiment  who  were  passing  through 
Cawnpore,  Nov.  21,  1857." 

But  we  must  on  to  Lucknow!  It  is  only  thirty 
miles  from  Cawnpore.  A  railway  connects  the  two 
cities.     Lucknow   is   not,   like    Benares,    Allahabad, 


68 


DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 


and  Cawnpore,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges;  but  is 
inland  to  the  east,  at  right  angles  to  the  river.     The 


MAP   OF  LUCKNOW. 


ALLAHABAD    TO  LUC  KNOW.  69 

defense  of  the  Residency  is  another  Thermopylae — 
for  there  are  several  in  our  history!  It  is  situated 
on  the  Goomty  River,  about  thirty  miles  east  of 
Cawnpore  and  the  Ganges.  The  Ganges  is  crossed* 
by  a  long  bridge  of  boats,  and  beyond  is  a  dead  flat. 
Among  the  first  places  seen  which  call  up  past  mem- 
ories, is  the  Alumbagh,  with  the  small  obelisk 
marking  Havelock's  grave. 

We  drove  through  the  principal  portions  of  the 
city;  saw  the  spots  famous  in  the  two  "advances;" 
paused  at  the  arch  beside  which  Neill  was  shot; 
ascended  the  roof  of  one  of  the  palaces,  and  enjoyed 
a  splendid  bird's-eye  view  of  the  city.  We  noticed 
with  deepest  interest  the  "  Martiniere,"  "  Secunder- 
bagh,"  "Mess  House,"  and  other  monuments  of  the 
fierce  fighting  and  splendid  victories  of  the  forlorn 
hope  when  delivering  the  long-besieged  garrison. 
But  to  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  Lucknow,  and 
of,  to  us,  the  most  famous  and  interesting  time  in  its 
history,  let  me  as  briefly  as  possible  explain  the 
illustrations  which  accompany  this  chapter. 

Look  first  at  the  Kaiser  Bagh,  or  palace  of  the 
deposed  king.  The  view  is  a  distant  one,  but  it 
gives  some  idea  of  the  imposing  appearance  of  Luck- 
now.  There  is  no  other  city  in  India  so  striking. 
It  is  not  an  Oriental  city  like  Benares ;  but  is  rather 
of  a  European,  or  a  sort  of  Parisian-Mohammedan 
type.  From  a  distance  it  looks  magnificent,  not- 
withstanding that  a  great  portion  of  it  has  been  de- 

6* 


70  DAV^  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

stroyed  since  the  mutiny.     The  Kesidency,  itself  a 
striking  object  once,  is  now  in  ruins.     But  before  the 


THE    RESIDENCY,  LUCKNOW — EAST    FRONT. 

revolt  the  city  must  have  stood  alone  in  India,  and 
even  in  the  whole  East,  alike  for  brilliancy  and 
beauty, — its  domes,  minarets,  and  palaces  being  re- 
lieved by  trees  and  partially  broken,  picturesque 
ground,  such  as  is  rarely  found  in  the  dusty  plains 
of  Hindostan.  But  while  its  palaces  looked  mag- 
nificent, yet  a  narrower  inspection  revealed  some- 
thing flimsy  about  their  architecture.  There  is  a 
"get  up,"  a  theatrical  unreality  about  them  in  spite 
of  their  wide  courts,  colonnades,  and  domes,  their 
gilding,  and  orange  groves,  such  as  one  sees  in  the 
Kaiser  Bagh.  I  felt  that  they  did  dream  "of  a 
perishable  home  who  thus  could  build."  The  history 
of  the  possessors  and  inhabitants  of  many  of  these 


^K^ 


or  iH» 


ALLAHABAD    TO  LUCKNOW.  73 

splendid  palaces  would  cause  a  blush  to  rise  on  the 
hard  cheek  of  many  a  criminal  at  our  bar.  As  one 
walked  through  the  courts  within  courts  of  the 
Kaiser  Bagh,  there  were  other  things  of  more  im- 
portance than  architecture  to  fill  one's  mind,  and  to 
shed  a  light  on  the  history  of  the  place.  There 
existed  not  on  earth  a  house  of  greater  moral  degra- 
dation than  this!  The  palaces  of  Lucknow  and 
Delhi  were  the  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  of  India,  and 
both  have  been  utterly  overthrown,  never  more  to 
rise.  "  The  king,"  wrote  Sir  William  Sleeman  long 
before  the  mutiny,  '^is  surrounded  exclusively  by 
eunuchs,  fiddlers,  and  poetasters  worse  than  either ; 
and  the  minister  and  his  creatures  worse  than  all. 
They  appropriate  to  themselves  at  least  one-half  of 
the  revenues  of  the  country,  and  employ  nothing  but 
knaves  of  the  very  lowest  kind  in  all  the  branches  of 
the  administration.     The  king  is  a  crazy  imbecile." 

Let  us  now  have  a  look  at  the  "Residency,"  the 
home  of  each  succeeding  representative  of  Great 
Britain.  It  included  a  large  portion  of  ground,  with 
various  buildings,  such  as  a  large  banqueting-hall, 
guard-houses,  and  several  official  residences,  grouped 
around  the  main  buildings;  with  open  spaces  be- 
tween, lawns,  flower-gardens,  etc.  The  Residency 
itself  was  situated  on  a  rising  ground,  if  a  few  yards 
above  the  plain  can  be  so  described. 

The  Europeans  in  Lucknow  had  the  advantage  of 
having  in  command  one  of  the  most  sagacious,  far- 


74  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

sighted,  and  noble  of  men — Sir  Henry  Lawrence. 
He  was  fully  prepared  for  the  revolt  long  before  it 
broke  out,  with  marvelous  sagacity  taking  in  the 
probable  future.  He  had  kept  hundreds  day  and 
night  employed  in  throwing  up  such  defenses  as 
could  be  extemporized  within  a  few  weeks,  in  order 
that  guns  might  be  placed  in  the  best  possible  posi- 
tion. He  had  also  laid  in  such  stores  of  every  kind 
of  provision  for  man  and  beast,  as  well  as  of  every 
kind  of  shot  and  shell  for  such  men  and  beasts  as 
might  be  opposed  to  him,  as  presented  a  remarkable 
contrast  to  poor  Cawnpore.  So  large  was  the  quan- 
tity of  ammunition  in  store  that  they  never  ran  short 
even  after  having  retired  from  the  Muchee  Bhowun 
and  blowing  it  up  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  barrels 
of  gunpowder! 

A  few  dates  and  facts  will  suffice  to  enable  the 
reader  to  follow  our  illustrations  with  more  interest. 

On  May  30  the  native  troops  revolted.  There 
was  at  the  cantonments  the  usual  surprise,  firings, 
charging,  cutting  down,  on  both  sides,  with  splendid 
gallantry  on  the  part  of  our  officers,  and  all  the  ex- 
citing incidents  of  such  horrible  melees.  After  the 
disastrous  battle  of  Chinhut,  on  30th  June,  with  a 
loss  of  two  hundred  men,  our  people  were  shut  up 
and  besieged  in  the  Residency.  There  they  remained 
till  November  26th,  bombarded  every  night  by  tens 
of  thousands  of  native  troops,  who  held  the  city  and 
occupied  the  surrounding  buildings, — firing  eighteen- 


ALLAHABAD    TO   LUGKNOW.  75 

pounders  within  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  the 
defenses;  and  all  this  during  the  hottest  months  of 
an  Indian  climate.  The  ladies  were  crowded  into 
small  rooms;  huddled  together  in  cellars  to  escape 
shot  and  shell;  deserted  by  native  servants,  and 
obliged  to  wash  and  cook;  to  watch  sick  children 
and  sick  friends;  to  prepare  meat  and  drink  for 
those  working  in  the  batteries;  to  come  into  daily 
and  almost  hourly  contact  with  disease  and  death 
and  suiFering  in  every  form ;  to  hear  the  incessant 
roar  of  guns  and  musketry;  and  to  be  prepared  for 
the  bursting  of  a  shell  or  the  crash  of  a  cannon-ball 
at  any  moment  in  their  place  of  retreat.  What  the 
nervous  system  of  those  thus  exposed  during  these 
si:s:  months  suffered,  none  but  they  who  have  endured 
the  like  can  conceive. 

After  losing  upwards  of  five  hundred  men  on  his 
march  from  Cawnpore,  and  fighting  for  four  days 
through  the  streets  of  Lucknow,  Havelock  with  his 
first  relief  reached  the  Residency  on  the  30th  Sep- 
tember. Food  dia  not  increase  with  the  numbers 
requiring  it.  But  the  garrison,  though  more  strait- 
ened, was  so  strengthened  as  to  be  able  to  extend  its 
intrenchments  so  as  to  include  about  two  miles. 
The  original  garrison  included,  as  Mr.  Gubbins  in- 
forms us,  1692  fighting  men.  Of  these  987  were 
Europeans  and  705  natives.  There  remained  of  the 
original  garrison  when  relieved  a  total,  including  sick 
and  wounded,  of  350  Europeans  and  133  natives — 


76  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

23  of  whom  had  deserted  from  the  original  number — 
41  military,  2  civil  officers,  and  1  chaplain  had  been 
killed.  Early  in  September,  before  Havelock  reached 
the  Residency,  there  were  in  it  220  women,  230 
children,  and  120  sick  and  wounded. 

Such  facts  give  interest  to  our  illustrations  of  the 
Residency.  But  let  us  look  at  them  in  detail.  The 
first  we  select  is  "  The  Bailey  Guard,"  so  called,  I 
believe,  from  an  officer  of  that  name  who  once  com- 
manded it. 

The  reader  will  notice  first,  the  arch,  or  gateway 
of  the  place.  Through  it  many  a  famous  man  has 
passed ;  among  others,  in  those  fighting  days,  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence,  Sir  Henry  Havelock,  Sir  James 
Outram,  Lord  Clyde,  and  General  Neill.  And  through 
it  too  passed  the  stream  of  men,  women,  and  children 
in  solemn  silence,  when  at  midnight  they  left  that 
terrible  Egypt  in  which  they  had  so  long  suffered. 
Every  side  of  that  arch  is  yet  dotted  by  shot,  mark- 
ing the  pitiless  hail  which  for  months  had  battered 
it  from  the  houses  now  cleared  away,  and  which  once 
crowded  the  now  bare  and  unpeopled  plain. 

At  this  arch  also  Outram  dismounted  on  that 
joyous  day  in  September,  when  the  first  relief  and 
hopes  of  final  deliverance  came ;  and  the  first  com- 
munications were  received  for  a  space  of  113  days 
from  the  outer  world  of  India  and  of  Europe — when, 
as  described  by  the  "Staff  Officer,"  "the  garrison's 
long  pent-up  feelings  of  anxiety  and  of  suspense  burst 


ALLAHABAD   TO  LUG  KNOW.  79 

forth  in  a  succession  of  deafening  cheers.  From  every 
pit,  trench,  and  battery — from  behind  the  sand-bags 
piled  on  shattered  houses — from  every  part  still  held 
by  a  few  gallant  spirits  rose  cheer  on  cheer — cheers 
even  rising  from  the  hospital !  Many  of  the  wounded 
crawled  forth  to  join  in  that  glad  shout  of  welcome  to 
those  who  had  so  bravely  come  to  our  assistance.  It 
was  a  moment  never  to  be  forgotton !" 

Look  again  at  this  illustration.  To  the  left  of  the 
arch,  and  beyond  it,  from  the  point  of  view  we  oc- 
cupy, are  seen  the  ruins  of  Dr.  Fayrer's  house.  To 
this  the  Highlanders  had  pressed  on,  heated,  worn, 
and  dusty — for  here  General  Outram  had  taken  up 
his  quarters.  Mr.  Gubbins,  who  witnessed  the  scene, 
says,  "  Nothing  could  exceed  their  enthusiasm.  They 
stopped  every  one  they  met,  with  repeated  questions 
and  exclamations  of  'Are  you  one  of  them? — God 
bless  you!' — 'We  thought  to  have  found  only  your 
bones!'  At  Dr.  Fayrer's  house  a  scene  of  thrilling 
interest  presented  itself  The  ladies  of  the  garrison, 
with  their  children  had  assembled,  in  the  most  in- 
tense anxiety  and  excitement,  under  the  porch  out- 
side when  the  Highlanders  approached.  Rushing 
forward,  the  rough,  bearded  warriors  shook  the  ladies 
by  the  hand,  amid  loud  and  repeated  gratulations. 
They  took  the  children  up  in  their  arms,  they  fondly 
caressed  them,  and  passed  them  on  from  one  to 
another  to  be  caressed  in  turn;  and  then,  when  the 
first  burst  of  excitement  and  enthusiasm  was  over, 


80  BAYS  JN  NORTH  INDIA. 

they  mournfully  turned  to  speak  to  each  other  of  the 
heavy  loss  which  they  had  suffered,  and  to  inquire 
the  names  of  the  numerous  comrades  who  had  fallen 
by  the  way.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  describe  the 
scene  within  the  intrenchment  that  evening." 

What  a  contrast  to  the  awful  silence  of  Cawn- 
pore! 

A  very  different  scene  had  been  witnessed  under 
the  veranda  of  that  same  house  in  July — for  there 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence  had  expired.*  Often  had  he 
been  found  alone  in  prayer  during  these  weeks  of 
anxiety.  God's  strength  only  could  have  sustained 
him  amid  weakness  of  body  and  overexertion  of 
mind.  He  died  (July  4)  a  few  days  after  being 
struck  with  a  shell  which  burst  into  his  room.  The 
last  scene  has  been  thus  described : 

"  First  of  all,  he  asked  Mr.  Harris,  the  chaplain,  to 
administer  the  Holy  Communion  to  him.  In  the 
open  veranda,  exposed  to  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry, 
the  solemn  service  was  performed,  manyx  officers  of 
the  garrison  tearfully  communicating  with  their  be- 
loved chief.  This  done,  he  addressed  himself  to  those 
about  him.  *He  bade  an  affectionate  farewell  to 
all,'  wrote  one  who  was  present  at  this  sad  and 
solemn  meeting,  '  and  of  several  he  asked  forgive- 
ness for  having  at  times  spoken  harshly,  and  begged 


*  His  life,  with  that  of  Neill  and  others,  was  given  by  Mr.  Kaye  in 
Good  Words  for  186G,  and  is  reprinted  in  his  delightful  volumes  of  »'  Lives 
of  Indian  OflScers,"  which  should  be  in  every  library. 


ALLAHABAD    TO   LUC  KNOW.  81 

them  to  kiss  him.  One  or  two  were  quite  young 
boys,  with  whom  he  had  occasion  to  find  fault,  in  the 
course  of  duty,  a  few  days  previously.  He  expressed 
the  deepest  humility  and  repentance  for  his  sins,  and 
his  firm  trust  in  our  blessed  Saviour's  atonement, 
and  spoke  most  touchingly  of  his  dear  wife,  whom 
he  hoped  to  rejoin.  At  the  utterance  of  her  name 
his  feelings  quite  overcame  him,  and  he  burst  into 
an  uncontrollable  fit  of  weeping,  which  lasted  some 
minutes.  He  again  completely  broke  down  in  speak- 
ing of  his  daughter,  to  whom  he  sent  his  love  and 
blessing.  .  .  .  Then  he  blessed  his  nephew^  George, 
who  was  kneeling  by  his  bedside,  and  told  him  he 
had  always  loved  him  as  his  own  son.  .  .  .  He  spoke 
to  several  present  about  the  state  of  their  souls,  urging 
them  to  pray  and  read  their  Bibles,  and  endeavor  to 
prepare  for  death,  which  might  come  suddenly,  as  in 
his  own  case.  To  nearly  each  person  present  he 
addressed  a  few  parting  words  of  affectionate  advice 
— words  which  must  have  sunk  deeply  into  all  hearts. 
There  was  not  a  dry  eye  there,  and  many  seemingly 
hard  rough  men  were  sobbing  like  children.'  He 
told  his  chaplain  that  he  wished  to  be  buried  very 
privately,  *  without  any  fuss,'  in  the  same  grave  with 
any  men  of  the  garrison  who  might  die  about  the 
same  time.  Then  he  said,  speaking  rather  to  himself 
than  to  those  about  him,  of  his  epitaph, — 'Here  lies 
Henry  Lawrence,  who  tried  to  do  his  duty.     May  God 

7 


82 


DAYS  /.V  NORTH  INDIA. 


have   mercy  upon   him'      And    such    is    the    simple 
epitaph  which  is  inscribed  upon  his  tomb."* 

But  I  must  ask  my  readers  to  look  once  more  at 
the  illustration  of  the  "Bailey  Guard" — at  that 
portion  of  it  to  the  right  of  the  archway.     "  Here," 


GRAVE    OF    LAWRENCE. 

writes  Mr.  Trevelyan,  "  from  summer  into  winter, 
until  of  his  200  musketeers  he  had  buried  85,  and 
sent  to  hospital  76 ;  earning  his  Cross  in  ragged 
flannel  trousers  and  a  jersey  of  dubious  hue,  burly 
Bob  Aitken  bore  the  unequal  fray."  I  had  the  happi- 
ness of  meeting  my  brave  countryman.  Major  Aitken, 
at  Lucknow.  He  told  me  these  interesting  facts : 
The  Native  Brigade,  then  in  Lucknow,  consisted  of 

*  I  had  the  privilege,  when  in  Calcutta,  of  making  Dr.  Fayrer's 
acquintance,  and  of  receiving  from  him  much  kindness.  No  man  is 
more  respected,  nor  occupies  a  more  distinguished  position  as  a  medical 
man.  I  asked  his  friends  what  honors  and  rewards  he  had  received  from 
government  for  his  services  in  the  Kesidency.  In  this,  as  in  too  many- 
similar  cases,  I  received  no  satisfactory  reply. 


ALLAHABAD    TO  LUC  KNOW.  83 

the  13th,  14th,  and  71st  Eegiments.  In  this  brigade 
there  was  only  one  native  officer  who  joined  the 
mutineers.  In  the  loth  Regiment,  230  men  volun- 
teered to  defend  the  Residency,  while  the  remaining 
750  continued  faithful  to  us  so  far  that  they  did  not 
turn  against  us.  All  the  native  officers  of  the  13th 
Native  Infantry  were  killed  or  wounded  in  the  de- 
fense of  the  Residency;  out  of  220  men  of  the  same 
regiment,  36  were  Sikhs,  of  whom  18  deserted;  out 
of  184  Hindostanees,  1  only  deserted.  Of  all  who 
defended  us,  155  were  either  killed  or  wounded. 
During  the  whole  time  of  the  siege  this  guard-house, 
on  to  the  arch,  was  defended  by  Major  Aitken  him- 
self and  his  native  soldiers  alone,  who  stood  firm 
in  spite  of  the  taunts  and  temptations  of  their  coun- 
trymen, when  we  were  in  extremes.  The  low  wall 
connecting  the  guard-house  with  the  archway  shows 
how  slight  was  its  defense;  while  the  innumerable 
marks  of  shot  on  every  spot  that  could  be  hit  in  the 
several  rooms  of  the  guard-house  reveal  the  fierce  de- 
termination both  of  the  attack  and  the  defense.  But 
over  that  parapet  wall  the  enemy  never  ventured. 
The  well-served  guns  from  its  embrasures,  and  the 
steady  rifles  behind  them,  kept  the  foe  at  a  safe  dis- 
tance under  cover.  Such  facts  as  these  ought  to  be 
recorded  to  the  credit  of  the  native  soldiers.  Many 
others  of  a  like  kind  might  be  mentioned. 

Let  us  now  take  another  glance  at  the  Residency, 
by  aid  of  the  illustration,  in  which  the  ruined  ban- 


84  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

queting-hall  is  the  most  prominent  feature.  During 
the  siege  that  ban  queting-hall,  where  the  loud  talk 
and  mirth  of  the  conquering  race  had  once  resounded, 
was  the  hospital  of  the  garrison — the  house  of  much 
pain,  of  many  thoughts,  and  many  sorrows.  Here, 
too,  Death  banqueted  on  many  a  brave  soldier  and 
tender  child. 

Both  it  and  the  once  handsome  Residency,  as  will 
be  seen,  are  now  in  ruins.  For  when  the  natives  got 
possession  of  the  place,  and  before  it  was  reoccupied 
and  restored  to  order  by  the  British  force,  it  had  been 
all  destroyed. 

And  now  within  these  famous  lines  of  defense  all 
is  swept  bare  with  the  exception  of  what  is  seen  in 
our  illustration.  Great  care  has  been  taken  to  indi- 
cate the  several  famous  spots — "  The  Cawnpore  Bat- 
tery," "The  Redan  Battery,"  "The  site  of  Mr.  Gub- 
bins's  House,"  "Dr.  Fayrer's  House,  "Here  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence  died,"  are  all  legibly  inscribed  on  tablets, 
so  that  the  stranger  hardly  requires  a  guide. 

The  last  spot  visited  by  the  traveler  will  probably 
be  the  church-yard.  There  he  will  gaze  in  silence 
and  with  veneration  on  the  tombs  of  Lawrence,  Neill, 
and  many  others  who  "  waxed  valiant  in  fight  and 
turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens,"  and  who 
there  lie  "in  the  field  of  their  fame."  It  is  a  most 
touching  spot.  The  silence,  with  the  hum  of  the 
distant  city,  like  the  murmur  of  a  mountain-bee, 
contrasts   strikingly  with   the   roar   of  battle    amid 


ALLAHABAD    TO   LUCKNOW.  87 

which  all  these  heroes  died  and  had  been  buried. 
Few  nations  have  been  so  privileged  to  record  with 
truth  the  "Christian"  virtues  of  their  heroes  slain  in 
battle  as  we  have  been,  on  the  tombs  of  such  men  as 
Neill,  Lawrence.  Peel,  and  Havelock.  And  these 
represent  not  a  few  of  the  same  high  character,  of 
whom  we  can  saj — "  Their  very  dust  to  us  is  dear!" 
Like  the  remains  of  Joseph,  they  seem  to  me  to  have 
already  taken  possession  of  a  promised  land  over 
which  the  living  God  will  yet  reign. 

I  was  struck  by  the  memorials  to  some  distin- 
guished regiments,  and  by  the  absence  of  any  me- 
morial to  others  who  deserved  to  be  remembered. 
There  are  monuments  erected  to  their  comrades  by 
the  Madras  Fusiliers,  the  84th,  the  5th  Fusiliers,  the 
90th,  and  also  by  the  Native  Bengal  Artillery,  the 
13th  Bengal  Native  Infantry;  but,  strange  to  say, 
I  saw  none  to  the  78th  either  here  or  at  Cawnpore! 

One  other  scene  is  connected  with  the  iUustration 
now  before  us.  On  the  summit  of  the  rising  bank 
which  connects  the  plain  with  the  slightly  elevated 
plateau  on  which  the  Residency  is  built.  Sir  John 
Lawrence,  as  Viceroy,  erected  his  chair  of  state  and 
held  a  great  durbar,  at  which  the  Thalookdars,  or 
feudal  chiefs  of  Oudh,  gave  in  their  public  adherence 
to  the  British  government, 

It  was  one  of  those  displays  which  arrest  the 
senses  of  the  spectator.  Here  was  represented  the 
quiet  strength,  the  beautiful  order  and  discipline  of 


88  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

the  various  branches  of  our  army — cavalry,  infantry, 
and  artiller}^ — each  soldier  of  the  force  suggesting 
thoughts  of  indomitable  daring  with  which  India 
had  become  acquainted,  and  at  no  place  more  so 
than  at  Lucknow.  Here  too  the  great  lords  and 
captains  of  Oudh  passed  slowly  before  the  Viceroy, 
with  six  hundred  magnificent  elephants  splendidly 
caparisoned,  accompanied  by  their  picturesque  re- 
tainers, all  glittering  with  gems,  and  arrayed  in  robes 
of  many  colors,  made  of  gorgeous  fabrics  from  the 
looms  of  Benares.  It  was  a  grand  spectacle  !  Yet 
there  was  little  in  it  to  gratify  the  heart.  In  that 
wonderful  procession  there  were  some  men  indeed 
who,  at  considerable  difficulty  and  risk,  stood  by  us 
during  our  time  of  need,  and  sheltered  our  country- 
men when,  maimed  and  wounded,  they  cast  them- 
selves upon  their  protection.  There  were  also  not  a 
few  who  had  wavered  and  hung  back,  until  they 
could  discover  on  which  side  the  hangman  was. 
There  were  some  too  who  never  had  been  friendly, 
but  had  yielded  themselves  to  our  power  from  neces- 
sity. All,  I  believe,  were  thankful  for  their  restored 
lands,  and  the  hope  of  British  protection  to  enable 
them  to  enjoy  themselves  while  obedient.  But  there 
was  not  one  there  who  loved  us  for  our  own  sake ; — 
not  one  who  would  not  have  preferred  a  native  rule 
to  ours  even  with  tolerable  protection  of  life  and  prop- 
erty; not  one  who  did  not  regret  the  unrighteous 
destruction  of  the  kingdom  of  Oudh,  and  would  not 


ALLAHABAD    TO   LUCKNOW.  89 

have  preferred  its  reformation,  even  under  British 
coercion  and  protection.  They  gave  in  their  submis- 
sion to  our  government  as  a  necessity  with  a  smile,  a 
shrug,  or  a  scowl.  Nothing  corresponding  to  a  British 
cheer  could  have  burst  from  that  native  gathering! 
Nor  was  there  any  love  lost  on  our  part.  The  highest 
feeling  prevalent  was,  I  doubt  not,  a  sincere  desire  to 
do  unswerving  justice  to  all — to  protect  all — curb  all, 
and,  as  far  as  government  could  accomplish  this,  to 
regenerate  and  civilize  the  whole  country.  But  that 
procession  was  seen  by  us — how  could  it  be  else? — 
through  the  mist  of  all  the  treachery  and  horrors  of 
the  mutiny.  Time,  however,  will  gradually  harmonize 
those  feelings  into  a  mutual  confidence.  "  Forget 
and  forgive"  will  acquire  ascendency  on  both  sides. 
Desires  for  mutual  considerateness,  stimulated  by  a 
sense  of  common  wrong-doing,  and  of  common  suf- 
fering, must  grow  in  the  hearts  of  both,  and  from 
these,  again,  must  spring  a  hearty  co-operation  in  ad- 
vancing the  common  good  of  the  country.  Education 
and  Christianity,  under  a  civilized  government,  will 
yet  regenerate  Oudh.  Our  injustice  to  it  has  visited 
many  good  and  true  with  suffering  and  death.  Its 
own  wickedness  has  annihilated  its  independence. 
But  able  and  trustworthy  natives— for  there  are 
such — will  henceforth  unite  with  able  and  trust- 
worthy Europeans  in  administering  affairs  wisely  and 
well  for  the  good  of  the  millions  who  occupy  its  mag- 
nificent plains. 


90  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

But  when  the  Viceroy  sat  in  that  chair  of  state  on 
the  green  slope  beneath  the  Residency,  and  beheld 
this  recognition  of  British  power  by  those  who  a  few 
y6ars  before  could  have  gained  thousands  of  pounds 
by  affording  protection  even  in  a  stable  to  English 
gentlemen  and  ladies  wandering  in  terror  with  their 
babes; — what  must  his  thoughts  have  been,  as  he 
remembered  that  close  beside  him  that  noble  brother 
slept  "who  tried  to  do  his  duty," — how  well,  and 
how  grandly,  he  succeeded,  the  spectacle  before  him 
testified. 

Not  undesigned  was  the  Viceroy's  choice  of  this 
spot,  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  Residency  and  of  its 
grave-yard,  for  the  scene  we  have  described.  There 
was  a  silent  sympathy  which  connected  the  brother 
on  his  throne  with  the  brother  near  him  in  his  grave. 
The  living  said  to  the  dead,  "  Thou  hast  not  died  in 
vain !  I  am  here,  because  thou  art  there,  and  we  are 
one  in  spirit,  in  life  and  in  death,  for  I,  too,  like  thee, 
will  try  to  do  my  duty."  England  confesses  with 
gratitude  that  both  have  done  so. 


CHAPTER   III. 


FROM   LUCKNOW   TO   AGRA. 


Believing  as  I  do  that  it  is  difficult  to  exaggerate 
the  importance  of  the  Indian  mutiny — the  magnitude 
of  the  sufferings  patiently  endured,  or  the  deeds  of 
heroism  nobly  performed;,  and  being  convinced  of 
the  ignorance  which  still  exists  at  home  regarding 
those  events  which  once  '^made  the  boldest  hold 
their  breath  for  a  time," — I  shall  linger  for  a  few 
minutes  longer  amid  the  ruins  of  the  Lucknow  Resi- 
dency, and  the  empty,  silent  courts  of  the  Kaiser 
Bagh,  to  record  a  lesson  or  two  of  suflfering,  that  may 
possibly  deepen  our  sense  of  responsibility  toward 
India. 

I  have  now  before  me  a  diary  kept  in  the  Resi- 
dency, by  a  lady,  during  the  whole  six  months  of 
the  siege.  Her  husband  and  two  children  were  shut 
up  with  her.  His  name,  could  I  take  the  liberty  of 
mentioning  it,  would  recall  to  many  of  my  readers 
those  days  of  suffering  during  the  disastrous  retreat 
of  our  troops  through  the  Kyber  Pass,  in  which  he 
bore  a  distinguished  part.  The  most  striking  feature 
of  this  diary  is  its  terrible  sameness!     Day  by  day, 

(91) 


92  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

night  rafter  night,  there  is  the  same  awful  record  of 
ceaseless  roaring  of  artillery,  and  bursting  of  shells — 
of  sudden  attacks  bravely  resisted  —  of  desperate 
sallies  successfully  made — of  mines  met  by  counter- 
mines— of  deaths  and  midnight  funerals — and  of  sore 
wounds  and  the  sudden  destruction  of  some  beloved 
one  by  shot  or  shell.  In  reading  such  narratives — 
and  how  many  were  furnished  by  the  year  1857 
from  Northern  India! — we  feel  as  if  we  never  knew 
human  nature  before,  nor  comprehended  how  it  is 
capable  of  enduring  for  weeks  and  months,  slow 
agonies  that  might  seem  sufficient  in  a  single  night 
to  extinguish  in  most  people  reason,  if  not  life  itself. 

Here  are  the  rapid  pencil  jottings  of  two  Sundays 
in  the  same  month : 

Sunday  No.  1. — "An  attack  near  the  European  hos- 
pital during  the  night,  but  comparatively  quiet  here; 
the  enemy  unsuccessful.  Three  round  shot  came 
through  the  dome  of  drawing-room  this  morning. 
This  is  fearfully  near,  and  makes  us  feel  more  and 
more  that  we  know  not  when  the  day  and  hour  of 
our  call  may  come.  May  a  Father  in  heaven  have 
mercy  on  us!  for  his  dear  Son's  sake  make  us  ready! 
Mr.  A.,  7th  Cavalry,  shot  dead,  looking  out  from  the 
Cawnpore  battery,  and  Mr.  H.  had  his  leg  broken 
from  a  round  shot  hitting  a  table,  the  leg  of  which 
broke  his.  Round  shot  of  seven  and  nine  pounds 
through  the  dome.  During  the  night  a  screen  made 
to  protect  from  musketry  at  an  exposed  corner.     Mr. 


1?T7BRSITT] 

LUCKNOW   TO  AGRA.      \f^^V>^93 

Gubbins  read  the  service  about  three  p.m.  Mr.  Pole- 
hampton;  our  chaplain,  feared  to  be  dying  of  cholera, 
at  the  European  hospital,  where  he  and  Mrs.  P.  have 
been  living  for  some  time,  doing  much  good." 

Sunday  No.  2.— "Poor  Mrs.  G.'s  boy  ill  all  night; 
no  hope  of  him.  Her  other  two  children  brought  up- 
stairs to  be  taken  care  of.  I  watched  from  twelve  to 
two,  and  then  for  two  hours;  poor  baby  seemed  in 
such  pain  nothing  would  pacify  him — Mrs.  B.  so  kind 
in  helping  me  to  do  so;  poor  William,  much  dis- 
turbed of  course ;  thank  God,  he  w^as  easy  when  he 
woke  after  a  short  sleep  about  daybreak ;  M.  A.  very 
restless  and  fretful.  Dr.  P.  says  it  is  from  want  of 
fresh  air.  Captain  H.  so  good  in  nursing;  Mrs.  G. 
sent  both  my  women  to  help  him  as  I  could  not  go. 
Messenger  arrived  with  a  letter  for  Mr.  Gubbins, 
which,  however,  was  taken  hy  order  at  once  to  Briga- 
dier Inglis,  saying  the  relieving  force  was  at  Ounama, 
first  march  from  Cawnpore,  which  was  left  in  charge 
of  a  regiment  intrenched,  after  complete  victory. 
They  had  force  for  any  opposition  they  might  meet 
in  coming  here,  and  hoped  to  arrive  in  four  or  five 
days.  May  God  prosper  them!  The  man  who 
brought  the  letter  has  seen  the  general,  and  said  he 
was  little,  with  white  hair,  supposed  to  be  General 
Havelock.  Mr  Gubbins  read  service  after  break- 
fast ;  an  unusually  quiet  day !  Mrs.  G.  rallying ; 
hopes  of  her  recovery.  Mr.  L.  killed  in  the  Cawn- 
pore battery  this  afternoon,  leaving  a  young  widow 


94  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

and  child.  They  are  at  Mrs. .  M.  A.  very  fever- 
ish and  heavy;  baby  a  shade  better;  quite  tired  out, 
obliged  to  go  to  bed  early;  aroused  at  ten  p.m.  by 
sharp  firing — an  attack,  but  mercifully  unsuccessful, 

and  over  in  half  an  hour ;  but  Mr. killed,  and 

it  is  feared  by  our  own  men  in  cross  fire.  Fires  in 
several  rooms  to  try  and  purify  the  air." 

Such  were  their  Sundays  of  Rest ! 

Here,  again,  are  the  diaries  of  two  successive  week- 
days : 

''Tuesday^  2\st. — About  twelve,  two  round  shot 
struck  the  house,  and,  from  fear  of  others,  the  ladies 
and  children  moved  to  the  dining-room — Mr.  L.  firing 
shrapnel  to  try  and  silence  one  of  the  enemy's  guns 
which  they  have  brought  to  bear  on  the  front  of  the 
house.  A  European  shot  dead ;  another  wounded. 
Good,  kind  Major  Banks  shot  dead  through  his 
temples !  I  had  just  been  helping  their  good  nurse 
to  prepare  his  body  for  her  to  see  it,  and  had  been 
through  the  sad  scene  with  her,  when  soon  after  Mrs. 
A.  told  me  that  my  own  W.  [her  husband]  was 
wounded.  When  I  got  to  him  he  was  lying  on  a 
couch  very  faint,  with  Dr.  Fayrer  examining  and 
dressing  his  wound.  A  rifle-ball  had  passed  through 
his  body.  God  bless  the  doctor  for  his  kindness.  He 
assured  me  it  was  not  dangerous.  We  are  in  God's 
hands.  Lord,  I  believe,  help  my  unbelief!  I  am 
thankful  I  can  attend  to  him  myself.  He  is  in  great 
pain.     From  my  heart  I  grieve  for  poor  Mrs.  Banks ! 


LUC  KNOW  TO  AGRA.  95 

She  has  lost  the  one  that  was  everything  to  her — 
and  their  darling  little  girl!  More  barricades  just 
outside.  Some  of  the  mutineers  seem  moving  in 
bodies  to-day. 

"Wednesday,  22d. —  A  wakeful  watching  night! 
Dear  W.  in  much  pain — better,  thank  God,  toward 
morning.  The  ladies  from  the  other  side  of  the 
house  obliged  to  remove  and  go  down-stairs.  We 
were  busy  removing  the  gentlemen's  things,  Mrs. 
Dorin*  assisting.  When  at  the  door  leading  from 
her  room  to  the  dhiing-room  a  matchlock-ball  struck 
her  on  the  face,  and  she  immediately  expired  while 
I  was  looking  at  her  and  calling  for  a  doctor!  It  was 
very  awful.  I  had  peculiar  cause  to  think  her  kind 
and  obliging,  for  she  did  much  for  me  and  mine. 
The  enemy  have  moved  to-day,  but  we  know  not 
where." 

Many  other  extracts  might  be  given;  but  I  must 
refrain,  only  adding  for  the  satisfaction  of  my  readers, 
that  the  writer's  husband  and  children  escaped. 

But  there  is  one  of  many  stories  of  suffering  now 
before  me,  which  I  shall  narrate,  even  although  my 
space  will  not  admit  of  my  doing  so  in  any  other 
than  the  most  abbreviated  form. 

Captain  Orr,  First  Assistant  Commissioner,  com- 
manded the  native  troops  in  Oude  before  its  annexa- 


*  She  was  one  who  had  escaped  from  the  massacre  at  Seetapore 
the  month  before,  when  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Christian,  with  others,  were 
killed. 

8 


96  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

tion,  and  was  liked  by  his  men.  He  and  Mrs.  Orr, 
with  their  child  Louisa,  were  at  a  station  in  Oude, 
about  ninety  miles  north  of  Lucknow.  It  is  called 
Mohumdee,  and  Mr.  Thomason  was  Deputy  Com- 
missioner. The  native  troops  rose  upon  the  Eu- 
ropeans at  Shahjehanpore,  about  twenty  or  thirty 
miles  from  Mohumdee,  on  Sunday  the  31st  May, 
while  attending  public  worship.  They  massacred 
several,  the  rest  escaping  in  various  directions,  and 
finally  reaching  Mohumdee.  Captain  Orr  then  in- 
trusted his  wife  and  child  to  the  care  of  a  Rajah, 
Lonee  Singh,  at  Mithowlee,  eighteen  miles  to  the 
south,  on  the  road  to  Lucknow.  The  escort  showed 
Mrs.  Orr  and  her  child  all  respect,  and  made  the 
Rajah  swear  to  protect  them  before  committing  them 
to  him.  He  sent  them  to  a  wretched,  empty  fort, 
called  Kutcheanee,  in  the  jungle.  In  the  mean  time, 
the  fugitives  from  Shahjehanpore,  amounting  to  thir- 
teen officers,  along  with  Captain  Orr,  Mr.  Thomason, 
eight  ladies,  besides  children,  and  three  or  four  civil- 
ians, left  Mohumdee  for  another  station  about  twenty- 
one  miles  farther  south  than  Mithowlee,  called  Seeta- 
pore.  On  the  road  the  guard  mutinied,  and  everi/  one 
was  massacred! — except  Captain  Orr,  who  was  con- 
ducted by  some  of  his  old  troopers  to  the  lonely  fort 
where  his  wife  and  child  lay  concealed 

Two  days  before  this  massacre  (June  3),  the  native 
troops  had  risen  as  suddenly  as  elsewhere  at  Seeta- 
pore,  where  Mr.  Christian  was  Commissioner.  Twenty- 


LUC  KNOW  TO  AGRA.  97 

four  officers  and  civilians  were  massacred,  besides 
many  women  and  children.  The  last  which  was 
seen  of  Mr.  Christian  was  as  he  was  shot  dead  just 
when  he  had  crossed  a  stream,  while  beside  his  body 
sat  his  wife  with  a  babe  in  her  arms!  They,  too, 
were  soon  killed.  Lieutenant  Barnes,  in  flying  for 
the  jungle  with  Sergeant  Morton,  managed  to  pick 
up  their  little  child,  Sophie  Christian,  three  years 
old.  Sir  Mountstuart  Jackson  and  his  sister  also 
escaped  into  the  jungle,  and  all  found  their  way, 
they  knew  not  how,  to  the  fort  where  Captain  and 
Mrs.  Orr  and  child  were  hiding. 

For  some  reason  or  other,  the  Orrs,  about  June  7, 
were  separated  from  this  party  and  sent  alone  into 
the  jungle  with  a  few  servants.  This  jungle  was  not 
a  forest,  but  an  arid  wilderness,  with  patches  of 
thorny  brushwood,  sufficient  to  give  shelter  to  tigers 
and  wolves,  but  not  to  human  beings.  For  ten  days, 
attended  by  an  old  native  servant  who  stood  faithful 
to  the  last,  they  remained  here,  beneath  the  awful 
heat  of  an  Indian  summer  sun,  with  no  shelter  but 
such  as  a  few  rags  could  afford.  They  were  then 
allowed  to  return  to  the  miserable  fort  for  a  few 
weeks,  and  to  join  their  companions  in  misery.  By 
this  time  (June  30)  the  Kesidency  in  Lucknow  was 
besieged,  so  that  no  aid  could  reach  them  from  its 
garrison. 

Once  more  the  Orrs  (August  6)   were  separated 
from  their  fellow-prisoners  and  sent  by  themselves 


98  DAYS  JN  NORTH  INDIA. 

to  the  jungle,  where  they  passed  a  fearful  time  till 
20th  October — suffering  from  jungle  fever,  often  de- 
luged by  torrents  of  rain,  and  every  day  subjected  to 
the  furnace  heat  of  a  cloudless  sky.  The  only  au- 
thentic news  which  reached  them  was  of  the  mas- 
sacre at  Cawnpore ;  and,  what  was  more  cheerful, 
the  advance  of  the  British  troops. 

Captain  Orr  managed  to  communicate  with  Have- 
lock  and  Outram  on  the  20th  of  September,  when 
they  were  about  to  enter  Lucknow.  Outram  wrote 
to  the  Kajah  Lonee  Singh,  bidding  him  take  heed 
how  he  treated  the  wanderers.  It  had  no  effect. 
All  believed  the  English  Raj  to  be  over,  and  acted 
as  if  the  rebel  power  alone  was  to  be  conciliated.  At 
this  time  an  ungrateful  wretch,  Zahoor-ool-Hussein, 
who  had  in  former  days  owed  everything  to  Captain 
Orr,  and  who  knew  where  he  and  the  other  fugitives 
were  located,  betrayed  them,  from  self-interested  mo- 
tives, to  the  rebel  government  in  Lucknow;  and  on 
the  20th  of  October  a  strong  guard  of  cavalry  and 
two  guns  were  sent  to  conduct  them,  together  with 
their  fellow-prisoners,  to  the  capital.  The  ladies  were 
put  into  rude  cars  without  any  shelter.  When  Mrs. 
Orr  complained  and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  retain  a 
sheet  for  the  protection  of  the  children,  she  was 
knocked  down  by  a  rude  blow  from  a  trooper.  The 
gentlemen,  emaciated  by  jungle  fever,  and  suffering 
in  body  and  mind,  were  bound  with  iron  manacles 
and  forced  to  walk.     Poor  Barnes  lost  his  reason; 


LUC  KNOW  TO  AGRA.  99 

and  Sergeant  Morton  fell  into  a  convulsive  fit  in  his 
agony.  A  cord  to  ease  the  irons  by  Kfting  them  up 
with  the  hand  was  refused.  They  suffered  from  ex- 
cruciating thirst ;  coarse  food  was  flung  to  them  like 
dogs  once  a  day;  and  they  had  to  march  in  rags, 
without  shoes,  from  daybreak  till  sunset,  with  brief 
intervals  of  rest,  from  the  20th  till  the  26th  of  Octo- 
ber, when,  at  last,  amid  a  jeering  and  mocking  mob, 
and  in  an  agony  of  thirst  which  made  the  ladies 
scream,  but  scream  in  vain,  for  water,  they  were 
thrust  into  a  vile  room  in  the  Palace  of  the  Kaiser 
Bagh. 

Let  it  be  noted,  that  as  Captain  Orr  marched 
through  the  streets  of  Lucknow  he  observed  some 
of  his  old  soldiers  in  the  crowd  weeping  like  chil- 
dren !  It  was  these  same  men  who  had  saved  his  life, 
when  all  others,  as  narrated,  were  massacred,  on  the 
journey  to  Seetapore  from  Mohumdee.  Truly,  the 
native  character  is  a  great  riddle.  The  simplicity 
and  kindness  of  the  child,  with  the  cunning  of  the 
fox,  and  the  ferocity  of  the  tiger,  are  most  mysteri- 
ously blended. 

The  miserable  fugitives  were  confined  to  one  room 
in  the  Kaiser  Bagh,  under  a  strong  guard.  The  suf- 
ferings of  the  ladies  and  children  were  unspeakable  ! 
They  had  been  deprived,  for  example,  of  the  neces- 
sary comforts  of  a  comb  or  brush  for  months,  and 
their  hair  was  matted.  But  enough  on  these  and 
other  points!     The  garrison,  in  which  were  two  of 

8* 


100  DAYS  IN  NOBTH  INDIA. 

Captain  Orr's  brothers,  was  made  acquainted  with 
their  state.  But  no  relief  could  be  sent.  From 
October  26  till  November  16  many  devices  were 
tried  by  their  jailers  to  make  capital  out  of  the  pri- 
soners at  the  expense  of  their  honor;  but  in  vain. 
Barnes  was  imbecile;  Morton  dying;  Sir  M.  Jack- 
son getting  weaker  every  day;  Captain  Orr  so  altered 
as  to  be  hardly  recognized  by  old  friends ;  and  what 
of  the  ladies  and  children  ? 

Sir  Colin  Campbell  had  arrived  and  taken  the 
Residency.  It  was  soon  emptied  of  its  defenders, 
who  were  on  their  way — home!  But  the  prisoners 
still  remained  in  the  palace,  while  their  enemies, 
mad  with  revenge,  believed  that  the  English  would 
return  no  more.  Strange  to  the  captives,  however, 
was  the  fact  that  a  large  force  remained  encamped 
near  Lucknow  at  the  Alum  Bagh !  What  could  this 
mean  ?  There  was  one  ray  of  hope,  they  had  a  true 
friend  in  a  certain  native,  called  Wajid  Allee,  a  man  of 
kind  heart  and  great  influence  among  the  rebels  and 
the  occupants  in  the  palace.  He  was  determined  to 
save  them;  but  there  was  in  Lucknow  also  a  fierce 
and  determined  enemy  of  the  English,  a  very  fiend 
in  wiles,  subtlety,  and  persevering  hate — the  Moulvie 
Ahmed  Alee  Shah.  He  was  a  Mohammedan  priest, 
born  in  South  India,  and  able  to  speak  English  well. 
Some  morths  before,  he  had  preached  a  crusade 
against  the  "  Kaffir"  English  in  the  bazaars  of  Fyza- 
bad,  a  town  in  Oude,  about  eighty  miles  southeast 


LUCKNOW  TO  AGRA.  101 

of  Lucknow.  He  was  ordered  by  the  British  magis- 
trate to  give  up  his  arms,  together  with  those  of  his 
followers  (seven  only  in  number),  and  be  silent.  He 
refused  to  do  either ;  and  when  attacked  by  a  com- 
pany of  a  native  regiment,  he  resisted  until  all  his 
followers  were  slain  but  one,  while  he  himself,  after 
dealing  many  wounds,  submitted  on  condition  of  re- 
ceiving a  fair  trial.  The  mutiny,  in  the  mean  time, 
broke  out,  and  he  escaped  from  prison,  to  become 
the  fierce  leader  of  that  Mohammedan  faction  which 
would  neither  give  nor  receive  quarter.  The  Moul- 
vie,  like  a  demon,  had  his  eyes  on  the  captives,  and 
kept  his  spies  on  the  alert.  No  sooner  were  Sir 
Colin's  guns  heard  than  these  poor  suffering  men. 
Captain  Orr,  Sir  Mountstuart  Jackson,  Lieutenant 
Barnes,  and  Sergeant  Morton,  were  dragged  out  of 
their  place  of  confinement.  Nothing  was  told  to  the 
ladies,  but  they  anticipated  all;  the  bitterness  of 
death  was  past.  A  few  short  words  at  parting  ;  then 
a  musketry  fusillade,  and  they  knew  that  all  was 
over.  They  were  informed  weeks  afterward  that 
the  wearied  bodies  and  souls  of  their  dear  ones  had 
then  found  rest.  Poor  little  Sophie  Christian  died 
in  the  palace,  and  was  interred  at  night  in  her  little 
grave.  In  spite  of  the  Moulvie,  Wajid  AUee,  who 
was  himself  suspected  and  carefully  watched,  man- 
aged by  bribes,  counterspies,  and  much  cunning,  to 
get  Louisa,  Mrs.  Orr's  child,  conveyed  as  a  corpse 
through  the  city  and  the  camp  of  the  Moulvie  to  the 

jUirlTBRSITTj 


102  DAYS  IiV  NOB  TIT  INDIA. 

Alum  Bagli,  which  she  reached  alive  and  well.*  He 
also  managed,  with  extreme  tact  and  delicacy,  to  get 
the  ladies  conveyed  in  close  dhoolies  to  his  own 
house  in  the  city.  But  I  must  quote  the  conclusion 
of  this  story  from  the  deeply-interesting  narrative 
before  me,  compiled  at  the  time  by  Mr.  Hutchinson. 

"  Many  dangers  still  awaited  our  party  while  pass- 
ing through  streets  crowded  with  lawless  and  inde- 
pendent soldiers,  but  Providence  guided  them,  and 
they  reached  their  destination  in  safety,  followed  by 
the  guard  supposed  by  the  passers-by  to  be  one  of 
honor  accompanying  a  native  lady  of  high  rank.  Of 
course  the  confusion  reigning  in  the  city  at  the  time 
favored  the  passage  of  the  party;  but  again  the  new 
abode  was  not  secure  against  the  messengers  of  death 
hurled  by  the  British  against  the  doomed  city,  and 
Wajid  Allee  removed  to  yet  another  house  in  the 
suburbs  occupied  by  the  Sultan  Mahul,  and  Wajid 
Alice's  wife  and  children,  as  well  as  by  his  brother-in- 
law's  family.  Here  the  ladies  were  most  kindly  re- 
ceived, clothes  provided  for  them,  and  all  their  wants, 
as  much  as  possible,  attended  to.  The  British,  already 
masters  of  the  Kaiser  Bagh  and  of  the  principal  build- 
ings in  the  city,  were  driving  the  enemy  from  its 

*  "A  little  child  named  Orr  was  sent  in  to-day  by  a  friendly  native 
who  had  concealed  her  in  the  city,  where  there  are  two  or  three  English 
ladies  concealed  by  the  same  man.  The  poor  little  girl  was  carried  out 
through  the  enemy  in  some  disguise,  and  delivered  at  the  Alum  Bagh 
port."  (Dr.  Kussell's  "Diary  in  India,"  vol.  i.  p.  286.) 


LUG  KNOW  TO  AGRA.  103 

outskirts,  a  portion  of  which  was  still  held  by  the 
Moulvie.  The  monster  had  long  suspected  Wajid 
Allee  of  being  friendly  to  the  English,  and  his  object 
was  to  seize  him  as  he  had  already  seized  Shurfood 
Dowlah,  the  Minister  under  the  rebel  administration. 
Communication  with  the  British  camp,  though  often 
interrupted,  was  still  kept  up  with  Wajid  Allee,  who 
was  plunged  in  the  greatest  anxiety  regarding  the 
safety  of  the  ladies  and  of  his  own  large  family. 

"The  Moulvie  had  discovered  on  the  18th  March 
the  abode  of  Wajid  Allee,  who,  through  his  own  in- 
formants, had  been  made  well  aware  of  the  designs 
of  his  enemy.  The  position  in  which  the  ladies  now 
found  themselves  was  most  critical,  for  although  the 
British,  as  we  have  before  stated,  were  masters  of  the 
principal  portions  of  the  city,  yet  the  Moulvie  with  a 
considerable  force  still  held  a  position  in  the  suburbs. 
On  the  night  of  the  17th  or  18th  March,  Wajid  Allee 
wrote  to  Captain  Orr's  brother,  pointing  out  the  ex- 
treme danger  in  which  he  was  placed,  and  begging 
for  assistance  without  delay.  This  letter  was  shown 
to  Sir  J.  Outram,  who  communicated,  we  believe,  on 
the  subject  with  General  Macgregor,  then  with  the 
Goorkha  troops  most  providentially  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Wajid  Alice's  house;  but  the  danger  was 
imminent,  the  Moulvie  with  his  men  was  hourly  ex- 
pected, and  no  time  was  to  be  lost.  Wajid  Allee 
begged  of  Mrs.  Orr  to  write  a  note,  explaining  the 
difficulties  and  danger  by  which  she  was  surrounded, 


104  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

to  the  address  of  any  British  officer ;  this  note  he 
should  cause  to  be  conveyed  to  the  nearest  British 
post.  Mrs.  Orr  wrote  a  few  lines  which  were  con- 
fided to  Wajid  Alice's  brother-in-law.  This  person, 
however,  had  hardly  left  the  house  when  he  encoun- 
tered a  body  of  Goorkhas  under  the  command  of  two 
British  officers,  Captains  MacNeil  and  Bogle.  He  im- 
mediately explained  to  them  the  nature  of  his  errand, 
and  led  the  way  to  the  house. 

"  The  Moulvie  was  already  from  another  quarter 
moving  in  the  same  direction.  The  officers  rushed 
into  the  house,  and  without  the  loss  of  a  moment 
placed  the  ladies  in  a  palankeen;  no  bearers  could  be 
found,  but  the  servants  of  the  officers  and  some 
Goorkhas  were  pressed  into  the  service,  and  Captain 
MacNeil  accompanying  the  palankeen  commenced 
his  perilous  journey,  leaving  Captain  Bogle  with  the 
Goorkhas  to  escort  Wajid  Allee  and  his  family.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  Captain  MacNeil  had  to 
pass  through  narrow  streets  entirely  devoid  of  British 
troops,  and  about  which  the  enemy  were  still  hover- 
ing, and  that  he  might  at  any  moment  expect  an 
attack,  or  at  all  events  a  ball  from  some  hidden  as- 
sassin. Captain  MacNeil,  however,  rushed  on,  urging 
and  encouraging  his  party  to  make  the  most  strenuous 
efforts.  The  Char  Bagh  ravine  was  reached  and 
crossed,  and  in  a  little  more  General  Macgregor's 
camp  came  in  sight ;  on — on — swiftly  was  the  palan- 
keen borne;  the  friendly  camp  is  at  length  gained. 


LUCKNOW  TO  AGRA.  105 

and  the  ladies  are  safe.  It  is  needless  to  say  how 
kindly  and  cordially  the  ladies  were  received  by 
General  Macgregor  and  his  officers.  Every  attention 
was  shown  to  them,  and  on  the  next  day,  the  20th 
March,  they  were  escorted  to  General  Sir  J.  Outram's 
camp,  where  Mrs.  Orr  had  the  inexpressible  delight 
of  once  more  clasping  her  daughter  in  her  arms.* 

"But  we  must  return  to  Captain  Bogle,  the  brave 
companion  of  Captain  MacNeil.  With  much  difficulty 
and  at  much  risk  he  succeeded  in  escorting  the  whole 
of  Meer  Wajid  Alice's  family  to  General  Macgregor's 
camp.  The  difficulty  of  his  enterprise  will  be  better 
understood  by  those  acquainted  with  native  manners 
and  customs.  To  these  officers  our  once  captive  coun- 
trywomen are  indeed  much  indebted  for  the  gallantry 
and  presence  of  mind  that  they  displayed  on  the  oc- 
casion, when  delay  or  hesitation  would  have  been 
fatal.  In  after-years  the  souvenir  of  the  deed  per- 
formed by  Captains  MacNeil  and  Bogle  at  Lucknow 
will  not  be  reckoned  as  the  least  among  pleasurable 
reminiscences 

"  We  must,  however,  make  mention  of  one  circum- 
stance, the  nature  of  which  cannot  but  strike  the 
most  callous  minds.   Before  the  final  separation  of  the 


*  "  I  went  to  pay  my  respects  to  two  heroic  countrywomen,  Mrs.  Orr 
and  Miss  Jackson,  who  had  suffered  so  long,  and  so  heroically.  Alas  I 
their  appearance  showed  that  they  had  suflTered  much.  It  was  an  in- 
teresting, and  to  me  an  affecting  interview,  and  I  retired  sadly  away." 
(Dr.  KusselPs  "  Indian  Diary,"  vol.  i.  p.  359.) 


106  DATS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

gentlemen  from  the  ladies  in  the  Kaiser  Bagh,  Mrs. 
Orr  had  occasion  to  send  for  some  native  medicines. 
They  were  brought  to  her  wrapped  up  in  a  piece  of 
printed  paper.  On  glancing  her  eyes  over  it,  Mrs. 
Orr  perceived  that  it  was  a  portion  of  a  leaf  of  a 
Bible,  and  contained  the  following  passage  of  Isaiah  li.: 
'They  shall  obtain  gladness  and  joy,  and  sorrow  and 
mourning  shall  flee  away.  I,  even  I,  am  He  that  com- 
forteth  you :  who  art  thou,  that  thou  shouldest  be  afraid 
of  a  man  that  shall  die,  and  of  the  son  of  man  which 
shall  be  made  as  grass;  and  forgettest  the  Lord  thy 
Maker,  that  hath  stretched  forth  the  heavens,  and 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth ;  and  hast  feared 
continually  every  day  because  of  the  fury  of  the  op- 
pressor, as  if  he  were  ready  to  destroy?  and  where  is 
the  fury  of  the  oppressor?  The  captive  exile  hast- 
eneth  that  he  may  be  loosed,  and  that  he  should  not 

die  in  the  pit,  nor  that ' 

(Signed)  "A.  Orr,  Captain" 

Surely  it  was  our  heavenly  Father  who  conveyed 
comfort  in  such  an  unexpected  way  as  this  to  the 
broken-hearted  widow  from  her  husband !  But  we  must 
bid  farewell  to  Lucknow,  which  will  be  forever  mem- 
orable in  the  annals  of  our  Eastern  Empire  as  the  scene 
of  much  suffering,  and  of  heroism  never  surpassed.* 

*  A  most  interesting  volume  was  published  by  Mr.  Edwards,  late  judge 
of  the  high  court  of  Agra,  called  "  Reminiscences  of  a  Bengal  Civilian." 
His  narrative  of  adventure  and  escape  during  the  mutiny  is  very  char- 
acteristic of  that  awful  time,  as  well  as  most  exciting. 


LUCKNOW  TO  AGRA.  107 

Agra,  our  next  stage,  opened  up  a  new  world  to 
me.  The  Western  Coast  of  India — the  whole  line  of 
travel  down  the  ghats  from  Poonah  to  Bombay,  and 
then  from  the  almost  unmatched  harbor  of  Bombay 
to  the  gorgeous  groves  of  Malabar,  and  the  pictur- 
esque Nilgherries — had  left  indelible  impressions  of 
the  glory  of  vegetation  and  of  scenery.  In  the  west, 
too,  at  Karli,  I  had  seen  specimens  of  the  cave  tem- 
ples of  the  old  Buddhist  worship.  Madras  and  South- 
ern India,  again,  had  given  me  my  only  ideas  of  genu- 
ine Hindoo  temples.  There,  and  there  only,  had  I 
seen  the  vast  architectural  piles,  the  pyramidal  pa- 
godas, the  inner  courts,  the  fine  arcades,  the  ambitious 
and  elaborate  sculpture  of  gods  and  things  divine;  the 
silence  and  gloomy  solitudes ;,  the  ruin  and  decay,  all 
marking  a  religion  of  power  and  influence  whose  sun 
was  setting.  Bengal  was  the  field  in  which  British 
power,  culture,  and  faith  were  seen  in  conflict  with  an 
old  and  effete  civilization,  docile,  subtle,  polite,  recep- 
tive, but  without  the  strength  of  truth,  self-sacrifice, 
or  self-reliance.  Benares  supplied  the  medley  of  splen- 
did Eastern  manufactures,  of  learned  Pundits,  of  filthy 
ascetics,  of  the  lowest  and  most  degraded  fetish  wor- 
shipers, of  holy  monkeys,  and  of  all  that  the  Hin- 
dooism  of  any  age,  from  the  present  day  up  to  that 
of  Solomon,  had  ever  produced,  tending  to  the  highest 
heavens  or  the  deepest — mud.  It  stands  by  itself — 
there  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  world,  just  as  there  is 
nothing  like  Rome,  or  Moscow,  or  Jerusalem.   Cawn- 

9 


108  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

pore  and  Lucknow  filled  my  mind  with  nothing  but 
associations  of  the  mutiny,  and  sundry  painful  ques- 
tions, more  than  once  hinted  at,  of  right  and  wrong^ 
which  pertain  to  that  time,  and  were  more  or  less 
causes  of  our  suffering  as  well  as  of  that  of  the  natives, 
and  were  intended  no  doubt  to  be  disciplinary  correc- 
tions and  cures  of  our  sins,  personal  and  political. 

But  once  in  Agra,  I  felt,  as  I  have  said,  that  a  dif- 
ferent phase  of  India  had  suddenly  opened  up  before 
me.  Books  have  given  every  one  a  certain  amount  of 
general  information  regarding  the  Mohammedan  con- 
quest of  India  under  Baber  in  the  fifteenth  century ; 
and  we  have  all  visions  of  the  Great  Mogul — a  desig- 
nation, by  the  way,  which  historians  very  properly 
reject  as  unwarranted  by  fact,  but  which  will  never, 
theless  remain  like  many  a  fruit  of  fairy  tale,  or  of 
prosaic  fibbing — visions  of  pearls,  and  gold,  and  dia- 
monds unlimited,  of  power  irresistible,  of  cruelty  as 
great,  and  of  whatever  a  young  reader  of  the  "Arabian 
Nights"  could  desire,  had  he  only  the  powerful  magic 
charm  to  minister  to  his  pleasures.  But  I  had  never 
before  seen  anything — except  perhaps  in  Cairo,  and 
there  but  very  partially,  and  I  have  not  yet  visited 
Spain  or  the  Alhambra — that  gave  me  any  true  idea 
of  Mohammedan  architecture.  In  Agra  we  were  as 
in  a  new  world,  which  is  Oriental,  but  verily  not  Hin- 
doo— a  splendid  exotic  flowering  in  beauty  and  bril- 
liancy beside  the  dark  and  ugly  forms  of  Yishnu  and 
Sheva.     The  buildings  in  which  this  architecture  is 


>*^   at  TBDI     *■ 

[TJiriTBIlSITTl 


rAj. 


Page  in, 


of  5H»       ^^ 

^usriVBasiTTj 


LUCKNOW  TO  AGRA.  \\\ 

seen  are  chiefly  tombs,  palaces,  and  mosques.  Were 
*we  to  recognize  these  buildings  as  symbolical,  we 
might  conclude  that  a  Mohammedan  was  purity  itself, 
both  in  his  worship  and  in  his  life,  for  they  are  pure 
as  alabaster — simple  in  their  forms,  and  destitute  of 
every  ornament  except  precious  stones  mingling  with 
the  snowy  marble,  just  as  the  flowers  of  spring  might 
show  themselves  in  the  recesses  of  the  quarries  of 
Carrara. 

The  famous  Taj,  the  gem  of  India  and  of  the 
world,  the  Koh-i-noor  of  architecture,  is  situated 
about  three  miles  from  Agra,  on  the  west  bank  of 
the  Jumna.  On  approaching  it  one  sees  white  marble 
minarets  rising  among  trees.  We  halt  at  the  grand 
portal  of  a  great  garden,  and  the  entrance-hall  or  gate 
so  arrests  us  that  we  feel  inclined  to  ask,  with  a  little 
feeling  of  disappointment,  Is  this  the  Taj  ? — this  being 
a  splendid  building  of  hard  red  stone — whether  sand- 
stone or  granite  I  cannot  remember — inlaid  with 
white  and  black  marble  and  various  colored  stones. 
Its  arched  halls  are  spacious.  /We  were  conducted  to 
the  upper  story,  and  from  a  great  open  arch  beheld 
the  Taj  !  All  sensible  travelers  here  pause  when  at- 
tempting to  describe  this  building,  and  protest  that 
the  attempt  is  folly,  and  betrays  only  an  unwarranted 
confidence  in  the  power  of  words  to  give  any  idea  of 
such  a  vision  in  stone.  I  do  not  cherish  the  hope  of 
being  able  to  convey  any  true  impression  of  the  mag- 
nificence and  beauty  of  the  Taj,  but  nevertheless  I 
cannot  be  silent  about  it. 


112  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA, 

From  the  arch  in  the  gateway  the  eye  follows  a 
long,  broad,  marble  canal,  often  full  of  crystal  water, 
at  the  extreme  end  of  which  rises  the  platform  on 
which  the  Taj  is  built.  Each  side  of  the  white  mar- 
ble canal  is  bordered  by  tall,  dark  cypress-trees,  and 
on  feast  days  about  eighty  fountains — twenty-two 
being  in  the  center — fling  their  cooling  spray  along 
its  whole  length,  while  trees  of  every  shade,  and 
plants  of  sweetest  odor,  fill  the  rest  of  the  garden. 
The  buildings  which  make  up  the  Taj  are  all  erected 
on  a  platform  about  twenty  feet  high  and  occupying 
a  space  of  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  square. 
These  buildings  consist  of  the  tomb  itself,  which  is  an 
octagon,  surmounted  by  an  egg-shaped  dome  of  about 
seventy  feet  in  circumference ;  and  of  four  minarets 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  which  shoot  up 
like  columns  of  light  into  the  blue  sky.  One  feature 
peculiar  to  itself  is  its  perfect  purity;  for  all  portions 
of  the  Taj — the  great  platform,  the  sky-piercing  mina- 
rets, the  building  proper — are  oi  pure  white  marble! 
The  only  exception — but  what  an  exception  ! — is  the 
beautiful  ornamented  work  of  an  exquisite  flower  pat- 
tern, which  wreathes  the  doors  and  wanders  toward 
the  dome,  one  huge  mosaic  of  inlaid  stones  of  dif- 
ferent colors.  Imagine  if  you  can  such  a  building 
as  this — 

"  White  as  the  snows  of  Apennine 
Indurated  by  frost," 

rising  amid  the  trees  of  an  Eastern  garden  rich  in 


^^^ 


OY  rsM 


[XJ'UITBJSIT 


1^ 


LUCKNOW  TO  AGRA.  115 

color,  fruit,  and  flower,  and  standing  against  a  sky  of 
ethereal  blue,  with  nothing  to  break  its  repose  save 
the  gleaming  wings  of  flocks  of  paroquets  adding  to 
the  glory  of  color;  and  all  seen  in  perfect  silence, 
with  no  painful  associations  to  disturb  the  mind,  or 
throw  it  out  of  harmony  with  the  pleasing  memories 
of  a  wife  and  mother  buried  here  by  a  husband  who 
loved  her  for  twenty  years  of  married  life,  and  who 
lies  beside  her  !v^ 

I^We  walk  up  from  the  great  portal  along  the  central 
marble  canal,  ascend  the  platform  by  twenty  steps, 
-and,  crossing  the  marble  pavement,  enter  the  Taj 
with  a  feeling  of  awe  and  reverence.  Our  admiration 
is  increased  as  we  examine  the  details  of  the  won- 
drous interior.  The  light  admitted  by  the  door 
does  not  dispel  1  ut  only  subdues  the  gloom  within./ 
We  stand  before  such  a  screen  as  we  have  never  seen 
equaled.  Divided  into  several  compartments  and 
panels,  it  sweeps  around  the  marble  cenotaphs  that 
lie  within  it,  and  represent  the  real  tombs  seen  in 
the  vault  beneath.  It  is  of  purest  marble,  so  pierced 
and  carved  as  to  look  like  a  high  fence  of  exquisite 
lace-work,  but  is  really  far  more  refined  and  beauti- 
ful ;  for  everywhere  along  those  panels  are  wreaths 
of  flowers  composed  of  lapis  lazuli,  jasper,  heliotrope, 
chalcedony,  cornelian,  etc.;  so  that  to  make  one  of 
the  hundreds  of  these  bouquets  a  hundred  different 
stones  are  required.  The  Florence  mosaic- w^ork  does 
not  surpass  it.     And    all  this  vision  in  stone  was 

/      9* 


IIG  DAYS  IX  NORTH  INDIA- 

raised  by  a  Mohammedan  emperor  over  his  dream 
of  love, — the  wife  who  died  more  than  two  hundred 
years  ago,  when  Christian  kings  and  emperors  were 
sent  into  dark  and  "  weeping  vaults" — "  the  longest 


MABBLE   SCREEN. 


weepers  for  their  funerals!" — with  no  ornaments  save 
spiders'  webs.v  When  a  musical  note  is  sounded  be- 
neath this  dome,  how  strange  are  the  echoes  from 
within   it!     They  are  unearthly,   like   those  of  an 


LUC  KNOW  TO  AGRA.  117 

^olian  harp.  The  slightest  note  wanders  heaven- 
ward, and  seems  to  be  harmonized  by  the  voices  of 
unseen  spirits,  and  to  be  drawn  out  into  fairy  echoes 
and  vanishing  re-echoes,  each  more  faint,  more  beauti- 
ful than  the  other,  as  if  floating  away  slowly  like 
summer  winds,  far,  far  beyond  the  dome,  into  the 
infinite  abyss  of  blue! 

But  who — it  may  be  asked  by  that  trying  order  of 
readers  called  the  lovers  of  knowledge  —  was  this 
emperor,  and  who  was  his  wife,  so  honored?  Now, 
one  of  the  difliculties  we  have  to  encounter  in  writ- 
ing about  India  is  the  absolute  want  of  all  interest  in 
its  history  prior  to  the  time  when  its  rulers  came 
into  contact  with  "  our  people."  The  great  contests 
of  India,  which  were  fashioning  its  destiny,  have  less 
interest  for  us  than  the  raids  of  a  vulgar  robber  and 
lifter  of  cattle  like  Rob  Roy,  or  a  ticket-of-leave  gen- 
tleman like  Robin  Hood.  The  succession  of  great 
emperors  of  the  olden  time  in  India  are  to  most  of 
us  what  the  riders  in  a  horse-race  are  to  strangers, 
who  see  but  different  colors  trying  to  make  their 
horses  pass  each  other. 

The  father  of  the  builder  of  the  Taj,  Jehanghir, 
was  the  first  ruler  in  India  who  received  an  ambas- 
sador from  England — Sir  Thomas  Roe,  in  the  reign 
of  James  I.  Jehanghir  married  a  famous  beauty, 
Niher-ul-Nissa,  the  widow  of  Sher  Afgan,  who,  four 
years  previously,  had  been  assassinated  by  this  same 
Jehanghir.     Her  name  was  changed,  first  into  Noor- 


118  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

Mahal,  "  the  light  of  the  harem,"  and  afterward  to 
Noor-Jehan,  "the  light  of  the  world."  Jehanghir,  it 
may  be  noticed,  as  a  characteristic  of  the  politics  of 
the  times,  had  impaled  eight  hundred  of  the  race  of 
Timour,  who  were  "in  his  way"  to  the  throne. 

Shahjehan  succeeded  him,  having  murdered  his  own 
brother  in  order  to  do  so.  He  married  Arzumund 
Banoo,  the  niece  of  "the  light  of  the  harem" — the 
daughter  of  her  brother.  She  was  a  good  wife,  and 
brought  to  her  husband  several  children,  among 
whom  was  Aurungzebe,  who  was  the  last  ruler  of 
the  united  empire  of  the  great  Akbar,  his  great- 
grandfather. After  burying  his  wife  in  the  Taj, 
Shahjehan  became  a  miserable  debauchee.  He  has, 
however,  been  very  quiet  and  sober  during  the  two 
hundred  years  he  has  lain  beside  Arzumund  Banoo 
beneath  the  marble  dome. 

The  cost  of  the  Taj,  I  may  add,  was  upwards  of 
three  millions  of  pounds  sterling!  Thousands  of 
workmen  were  engaged  upon  it  for  long  years.  So 
much  for  the  price  of  a  sentiment.  Was  it  too  much  ? 
And  how  shall  we  balance  the  account  between  senti- 
ment and  silver? 

Every  one  in  Agra,  and  very  many  beyond  it, 
know  Dr.  Murray.  He  is  wedded  to  the  Taj.  It  is 
the  object  of  his  genuine  affection.  Well  for  the 
building  that  he  has  been  good  enough,  and  tasteful 
enough,  to  make  it  his  specialite;  for  to  him  chiefly 
is  owing  the  perfect  repair  in  which  it  is*4tept.     He 


LUCKNOW  TO  AGRA.  '  121 

was  kind  enough  to  have  it  illuminated  for  us  at 
night  with  "  Roman  lights,"  which  brought  out  with 
intense  vividness  the  beautiful  details  of  the  interior. 

Another  noble  tomb,  at  Secundra,  seven  miles 
north  of  Agra,  is  that  of  Akbar  Shah,  who  is  justly 
described  as  one  of  the  greatest  monarchs  who  ever 
reigned.  He  died  in  1598.  "The  memory  of  Akbar," 
writes  Lord  Hastings,  when  visiting  his  tomb,  "does 
not  belong  to  a  particular  race  or  country;  it  is  the 
property  of  mankind."  He  was  wise  and  just,  with 
a  real  desire  to  promote  the  permanent  good  of  his 
subjects,  and  his  laws  and  arrangements  left  little 
room  for  improvement  on  the  part  of  his  English  suc- 
cessors. One  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  his 
character  was  his  toleration  of  every  form  of  religious 
thought.  He  was  himself  a  pure  theist,  and  seems 
to  have  been  repelled  from  Christianity  as  presented 
to  him  by  Portuguese  missionaries,  who  appear  to 
have  narrated  to  him  all  their  own  legends  and 
fables,  thus  offending  his  religious  feeling  and  com- 
mon sense.  He  was  a  Mohammedan,  with  little  or 
nothing  of  Mohammed,  but  much  of  Akbar  himself. 

The  tomb  is  of  vast  size,  and  is  situated  in  a  garden 
of  upwards  of  forty  acres.  It  has  four  large  majestic 
portals — themselves  quite  palaces.  It  is  difficult, 
and  needless  in  presence  of  the  illustration,  to  de- 
scribe this  tomb.  It  consists  of  four  terraces,  each 
narrowing  above  the  other,  except  the  two  upper 
ones,  which  are  nearly  of  equal  extent.     The  court 


122  *         DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

is  of  marble,  and  is  open  to  the  sky,  with  a  marble 
cenotaph  in  the  center,  and  a  marble  arcade  all 
round  with  arched  windows,  whose  panes  are  of 
carved  lacelike  patterns,  each  pane  having  its  own 
peculiar  figure.  The  whole  has  a  most  beautiful  and 
grand  effect. 

Royal  palaces  are  in  India,  as  in  many  other  coun- 
tries, within  the  fort  of  the  capital.  The  fort  of 
Agra  is  one  of  imposing  grandeur.  It  is  built  of  red 
sandstone.  The  walls  are.  about  eighty  feet  high.  I 
know  few  more  striking  architectural  pictures  than 
its  "Gate  of  Delhi."  Within  are  all  the  different 
kinds  of  buildings  necessary  for  the  palace  of  a  great 
Eastern  emperor.  There  are  the  audience  hall,  the 
rooms  for  the  numerous  retainers,  the  luxurious  Ze- 
nanas; the  mosques  for  worship;  not  to  speak  of  all 
the  space  and  dwellings  needed  for  the  soldiery,  and 
for  arms,  small  and  great,  and  for  stores  of  provisions 
for  man  and  beast.  So  large  is  this  fort,  that  during 
the  mutiny  upwards  of  five  thousand  fugitives  found 
refuge  within  a  comparatively  small  portion  of  its 
interior.  Here  the  great  Akbar  lived  for  many  years. 
His  hall  of  audience  still  exists,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  long,  and  sixty  broad,  supported  by  grace- 
ful arches.  In  it  his  throne  of  state  rests  empty  on 
its  dais,  his  power  having  passed  into  the  hands  of 
another  Raj,  represented  daily  by  the  British  soldier 
as  he  paces  to  and  fro  with  his  glittering  bayonet. 
The  hall  is  now  an  armory.     In  it  are  deposited  the 


'UHI7BRSIT71 


BALCONY  OP  ZENANA,  AT  AGRA.  Page  127. 


*>?-  >vnsn 


LUCKNOW  TO  AGRA.  127 

famous  sandal-wood  gates  of  the  Hindoo  temple  of 
Somnauth,  brought  by  General  Nott  from  Guznee  in 
Afghanistan,  to  which  they  had  been  carried  as  tro- 
phies by  Mahmoud  of  Guznee  a  thousand  years  before. 
These  gates  had  been  lost  to  memory,  and  I  have  heard 
that  with  whatever  rejoicings  they  were  received  by 
the  Hindoos,  they  were  the  occasion  of  very  opposite 
feelings  on  the  part  of  the  English  soldiers  and  offi- 
cers who  had  to  conduct  them  south. 

But  the  chief  objects  in  the  fort  are  the  buildings 
erected  by  Shahjehan,  who  built  the  Taj,  and  sleeps 
in  it.  These  consist  of  the  Pearl  Mosque,  and  the 
apartments  of  the  Zenana.  The  impression  made  by 
all  these  buildings  is  much  the  same  as  that  made 
"by  the  Taj.  As  to  the  Zenana  buildings,  picture  to 
yourselves  rooms  or  boudoirs,  call  them  what  you 
please,  opening  one  into  another,  all  of  pure  marble; 
here  a  balcony  supported  by  delicate  pillars,  with 
projecting  roofs;  there  exquisite  balustrades  in  deli- 
cate lacelike  open  patterns  with  no  ornament  save 
gilding ; — the  views  extending  over  the  country,  and 
embracing  the  Taj  and  the  Jumna.  Imagine  again 
rivulets  of  water  streaming  from  room  to  room  along 
marble  beds;  gardens  of  flowers,  and  precious  exotics 
— the  creepers  running  over  trellises,  and  shading 
from  the  heat  the  pathways  across  the  marble  floors, 
and  mingling  with  the  flying  spray  of  fountains;  and 
this  on  and  on,  from  room  to  room,  from  balcony  to 
balcony,  from  court  to  court.      And  then  there  are 


128  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

two  recesses  impervious  to  heat,  whose  walls  are 
formed  of  innumerable  small  mirrors,  with  lamps 
without  number,  by  which  tiny  water-falls  used  to 
be  illumined  from  behind,  as  they  flowed  into  marble 
fonts  and  thence  issued  in  bubbling  rivulets  or  sprang 
into  fluttering  jets  of  spray  of  delicious  coolness.  No 
palaces  can  be  imagined  more  full  of  the  joyousness 
and  poetry  of  mellowed  light  and  crystal  water,  and 
of  that  beauty  of  color  and  form  which  harmonizes 
naturally  with  the  blue  sky  and  the  illumined  air, 
the  green  foliage  and  the  birds  of  brilliant  hue.  The 
mosques  are  ideal  places  of  worship,  so  grand  and 
spacious,  so  simple,  silent,  and  reverential,  so  open  to 
the  light  of  day  and  the  naked  heavens,  as  if  God 
were  welcome  at  any  time  to  enter;  and  so  unlike 
the  dark  Hindoo  temples,  nay,  so  unlike  the  dark 
and  mysterious  Gothic  temples  of  Europe.  And  then 
the  tombs  are  also  calculated  to  impress  one  with  the 
idea  of  respect  for  the  dead — as  if  their  occupants 
were  yet  alive,  and  therefore  worthy  of  being  recog- 
nized in  such  a  way  as  to  express  not  only  what  they 
were  but  are.  As  far  as  I  know  Mohammedanism, 
all  this  seems  quite  out  of  harmony  with  its  ideas 
and  beliefs ;  but  I  presume  it  cannot  be  altogether  so. 
The  Mootee  Musjid,  or  Pearl  Mosque,  is  one  of  the 
most  perfect  gems  of  art  in  India,  and  so  too  is  the 
Zenana  Musjid  beside  it.  Its  arches  open  into  the 
marble  court  and  garden,  which  are  bounded  on  the 
opposite  side  by  the  Palace  of  the  Zenana,  already 


LUCKNOW  TO  AGRA.  129 

described.  The  original  designer  of  these  splendid 
Mohammedan  palaces,  mosques,  and  tombs  which  are 
the  glory  of  Agra  and  its  environs,  as  well  as  of  Fut- 
tehpore  Sikri,  and  Delhi,  old  and  new,  is  said  to  have 
been  one  Austin  de  Bourdeaux.  This,  however,  is 
uncertain,  although  there  were,  no  doubt,  many  Eu- 
ropean adventurers,  chiefly  from  Genoa  and  Venice, 
in  the  service  of  "  the  Great  Mogul." 

But  there  is  a  black  side  to  all  this  white  marble, 
— dark  scenes  in  the  shades  below,  balancing  the 
brilliant  scenes  in  the  heights  above.     Far  down  be- 
neath this  marble  paradise  for  female  beauty,  female 
ermul,  and  female  misery,  are  various  lower  stories 
and   caverned  vaults.     These   realize  in  their   con- 
struction, and  in  their  revelations  also,  all  the  wild 
indefinite  horror  which  fired  our  young  imaginations 
in  reading  such  stories  as  that  of  Bluebeard.     Deep 
down    are   seen    mysterious    stairs    descending   into 
empty  cells  and  dark  caverns,  and  from  these  again 
descending  into  others  still  deeper  down,  and  through 
tortuous  passages,  ending  apparently  in  nothing,  yet 
with  more  than  a  suspicion  of  a  something  beyond, 
although  a  built-up  wall  interposes.     We  examined 
these    mysterious    and    dim   retreats,    and   we   saw 
enough  to  convince  us  that  pleasure  and  pain,  "lust 
and  hate,"  were  near  neighbors  in  Agra  as  in  other 
places.     Sad  evidences  were  apparent  of  beings  who 
had,  from  jealousy  or  other  causes,  been  conveyed  to 
these  chambers  of  horror  and  there  executed  in  the 

10 


130  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

eye  of  God  alone.  In  the  time  of  Lord  (then  Sir 
Thomas)  Metcalfe,  some  engineer  officers  found  their 
way  hlocked  up  hy  a  wall  where  no  wall  should  be. 
They  pierced  through  it  for  about  eleven  feet,  and 
then,  emerging  upon  the  other  side,  found  the  skele- 
tons of  a  young  man  and  of  an  old  and  young  woman. 
A  well  was  there,  but  no  means  of  drawing  water 
from  it.  A  beautiful  view  could  be  seen  from  the 
spot,  but  no  way  of  escape!  I  saw  the  place.  Others 
who  have  had  time  more  carefully  to  explore  these 
underground  mysteries  describe  a  well,  or  pit,  with 
ropes  hung  from  bearers  across  its  mouth,  on  which 
skeleton  bodies  of  females  were  found.  Of  these  and 
other  details  I  cannot  speak  from  personal  knowl- 
edge, but  I  saw  and  heard  quite  enough  to  convince 
me  that  Oriental  splendor  might  exist  with  horrible 
misery.  There  was  enough  here  to  illustrate  the 
selfishness  of  human  nature  in  its  vilest  forms,  and 
its  desires  of  self-gratification  and  cruelty.  Who 
would  compare  the  social  blessings,  the  intellectual 
possessions,  the  calm  security  for  life  and  property, 
the  justice  and  fair  dealing,  the  spiritual  and  purify- 
ing influences,  of  the  fiimily  of  an  educated  and 
sincerely  Christian  gentleman,  husband  and  father, 
living  in  any  of  our  smoky,  gloomy,  unartistic,  com- 
mercial towns,  with  all  that  any  Great  Mogul  ever 
did  or  could  possess,  amid  the  splendors  of  Agra, 
Delhi,  or  anywhere  else !  The  emperor  was  misera- 
ble, not  less  really  so  that  his  misery  was  but  par- 


foslTWSITTJ 


LUCKNOW  TO  AGRA.  I33 

titally  realized  by  bim ;  wbile  the  Christian  workman 
of  a  free  and  civilized  state  possesses  a  blessedness 
and  peace,  not  the  less  real,  though  not  fully  realized 
by  him,  such  as  never  dawned  on  the  mind  of  an 
Indian  king. 

A  strange  contrast  was  presented  during  the  mu- 
tiny, between  the  ordinary  silence  of  those  marble 
halls  of  the  Zenana  and  Pearl  Mosques,  and  the  un- 
wonted din  of  the  tribes  and  trades,  high  and  low, 
European  and  Oriental,  which  crowded  into  them  for 
defense;  and  still  more  so  when  soldiers  wounded  in 
battle  lay  on  those  pavements,  bleeding,  groaning, 
dying,  tended  by  ladies,  who  then  were,  and  at  all 
such  times  are,  the  very  angels  of  mercy  and  hope. 
In  that  fort  lie  the  remains  of  Mr.  Colvin,  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, who  gave  way  beneath  the  over- 
whelming weight  of  responsibility.  But  I  cannot 
allow  myself  to  record  here  other  illustrations  of 
that  awful  period. 

I  was  conducted  over  the  fort  by  Dr.  Playfair, 
brother  of  my  old  acquaintance,  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair. 
He  has  devoted  himself,  with  the  enthusiasm  which 
is  in  his  blood,  to  the  protection  and  generous  ex- 
planation of  the  architectural  glories  of  the  fort.  I 
dare  not  allege  that  I  heard  it  from  him,  nor  can  I 
condescend  at  this  moment  on  particulars,  yet  the 
impy-ession  remains  on  my  mind  that  notwithstanding 
the  so-called  repairs  of  the  fort,  and  the  means  adopted 
for  the  prevention  of  thefts,  yet  there  has  neverthe- 


134  DATS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

less  been  an  uncalled-for  destruction  of  bits  of  archi- 
tecture which  should  have  been  preserved,  if  neces- 
sary, under  a  glass  case  secured  by  lock  and  key.* 
I  cannot  divest  myself  of  the  conviction,  which  must, 
I  am  sure,  have  originated  from  fact,  that  some  of 
these  local  authorities  do  not  yet  fully  realize  the 
sacredness  of  the  trust  committed  to  them.  Every- 
thing which  records  mind  in  the  past,  whether  in 
power,  taste,  or  opinion,  should  be  preserved  as  rec- 
ords of  7nan,  be  he  great  or  small,  wise  or  foolish. 
But  if  there  is  any  one  who  will  do  justice  to  the 
Moslem  in  everything,  it  is  the  learned  biographer  of 
Mohammed,  Sir  William  Muir,  the  present  distin- 
guished Governor  of  the  Northwest  Provinces. 

There  are  many  other  monuments  of  architectural 
beauty  near  Agra  on  which  I  need  not  dwell.  But 
any  traveler  who  finds  it  possible  to  visit  Futtehpore 
Sikri  should  do  so  by  all  means.  It  is  unnecessary  here 
to  give  its  history.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  it  is  within 
a  day's  drive  of  Agra,^and  was  built  by  Akbar;  that 
its  buildings  remain  as  perfect  as  when  erected — its 
tombs  being  like  poems  in  marble,  its  palaces  of  rarest 

*  A  traveler  has  accused  the  Marquis  of  Hastings  of  having  committed 
sacrilege  among  some  of  the  magnificent  marble  baths  by  having  had 
them  removed — though  they  were  subsequently  sunk  in  the  Ganges — to 
present  them  to  George  IV.  But  a  very  different  and  perfectly  satis- 
factory report  is  given  by  himself  in  his  Private  Journal  (vol.  ii.  pp.  19, 
20)  of  this  transaction.  His  object  was  to  preserve  them  from  what  ap- 
peared to  him  to  be  imminent  destruction,  by  bringing  them  to  Calcutta, 
•'  where  they  might  somehow  be  employed  as  ornaments  for  the  city." 


LUCKNOW   TO  AGRA.  135 

beauty,  and  its  remains,  in  short,  so  exquisite  as  do 
not  exist  in  any  other  part  of  the  earth.  To  my 
great  regret,  I  could  not  command  the  time  to  visit 
Futtehpore  Sikri,  and  therefore  cannot  describe  it,  al- 
though illustrations  of  its  glory  are  before  me.  The 
time  is  not,  however,  far  distant  when  British  tourists 
will  be  familiar  with  it.  The  Suez  Canal  and  Indian 
railways  are  working  out  a  greater  revolution  as 
regards  the  travel  of  the  intelligent  idle,  as  well  as 
the  commerce  of  the  intelligent  busy,  than  we  can 
anticipate. 

I  am  sorry  I  was  not  able  to  devote  any  time  to 
the  examination  of  the  prisons  in  the  Northwest 
Provinces,  as  represented  by  that  of  Agra  under  the 
surveillance  of  my  host  and  old  friend,  Dr.  Moir,  the 
son  of  the  well-known  "Dalta"  of  BlackwoocVs  Maga- 
zine. But,  from  all  I  heard  in  the  north,  I  am  per- 
suaded that  the  prisons  of  this  province  are  models, 
and  may  favorably  compare  with  the  best  in  Europe. 
For  intelligence,  enthusiasm,  wisdom,  and  persever- 
ance in  his  work,  I  will  "back  up"  my  friend  Dr. 
Moir  against  any  "in  the  same  line." 

I  have  said  nothing  about  missions  in  these  north- 
ern rides;  but  may  possibly  do  so  yet.  Meanwhile 
we  must  have  a  peep  at  Delhi — and  then  home- 
wards ! 

10* 


CHAPTER  lY. 

DELHI. 

It  was  past  midnight  when  the  carriage  of  the 
Commissioner  at  Delhi,  Mr.  M'Neile,  conveyed  us  to 
his  residence  at  "Ludlow  Castle."  Mr.  M'Neile  is 
the  son  of  one  widely  known  and  respected  as — I 
must  use  the  old  familiar  name — "  Hugh  M'Neile,  of 
Liverpool."  And  here  I  must  take  leave  to  express 
the  hope  that  the  number  of  English  who  will  soon 
visit  Lidia,  and  the  certainty  that  the  Suez  Canal 
will  indefinitely  increase  the  number,  will  induce  en- 
terprising persons  to  open  comfortahle  hotels  in  all  the 
great  cities.  The  more  one  feels  the  generous  hospi- 
tality shown,  as  in  our  case,  by  fellow-countrymen, 
the  more  one  realizes  the  pain  and  awkwardness  of 
being  entertained  "like  a  prince"  by  gentlemen  on 
whom  one  has  no  claim  whatever.  Meals  at  all 
hours;  carriages  at  all  hours;  ladies,  old  and  young, 
wearying  themselves  to  add  to  one's  comfort ;  dinner- 
parties to  meet  you,  etc.,  etc. — "  It  is  really  too  bad  !" 
as  the  phrase  is.  Yet  at  present  this  cannot  be  helped. 
I  was  only  in  two  hotels  in  India,  one  at  Beypore  and 
the  other  at  Lucknow;  and  wretched  enough  cara- 
(136) 


DELHI.  137 

vanserais  I  found  them.  We  were  therefore  very 
thankful,  in  spite  of  the  feeling  that  we  were  in- 
truders, to  find  ourselves  in  such  highly-civilized  and 
delightful  quarters  as  those  of  Mr.  M'Neile. 

This  late  capital  of  "the  Great  Mogul,"  once  so 
famous  and  romantic  in  all  its  associations,  has  since 
the  mutiny  sunk  down  into  the  position  of  a  mere 
provincial  city.  Its  architectural  remains  are  the 
only  things  of  present  interest.  But  these  will 
become  more  and  more  interesting  to  European 
travelers. 

Old  Delhi — called  by  the  natives  Shahjehanabad — 
was  built  by  Shahjehanin  1631.  There  were  former 
cities  of  the  same  name,  which  were  permitted  to  die 
out  or  were  destroyed  with  the  dynasty  which  erected 
them;  and  their  gigantic  remains  lie  scattered  far 
and  wide  for  miles  and  miles  over  the  plain. 

The  present  comparatively  modern  Delhi,  the  seat 
of  the  Mogul  dynasty,  is  about  seven  miles  in  cir- 
cumference, and  contains  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  inhabitants. 

As  a  city  it  has  marked  features  of  its  own.  Un- 
like the  other  cities  I  had  visited,  it  is  walled,  and 
that  too  (as  we  found  in  '57)  in  a  most  substantial 
manner — thanks  to  our  own  engineers.  Although 
there  are  many  streets  as  tortuous  and  narrow  as  are 
found  in  other  towns,  I  did  not  see  anywhere  that 
squalor  and  tumble-down  confusion  which  arrest  the 
eye  in  the  native  quarters  of  Bombay  or  Calcutta; 


138  DAYS  m  NOBTH  INDIA. 

while  one  leading  thoroughfare,  the  Chanrlnee  Chouk, 
leading  dh-ect  from  the  Lahore  Gate  to  the  Palace,  is 
really  a  fine  street,  ninety  feet  wide,  about  a  mile 
long,  with  a  row  of  trees,  a  canal  along  its  center 
(covered,  except  in  a  few  places),  and  with  comforta- 
ble-looking veranda-houses  and  good  shops  on  either 
side. 

The  Hindoo  element  is  quite  wanting  in  Delhi.  A 
different  population,  too,  fill  the  streets.  Stately- 
looking  forms  from  the  northern  plains  and  mount- 
ains, Afghans  and  Sikhs,  continuallj^  arrest  the  eye; 
while  the  general  aspect  of  the  city  is  wholly  sug- 
gestive of  Mohammedan  influence,  and  recalls  Turkey 
more  than  Hindostan. 

The  two  famous  buildings — the  Palace  and  the 
Great  Mosque — are  associated  with  Delhi,  just  as  the 
Taj  and  Fort  are  associated  with  Agra.  These  build- 
ings are  both,  unquestionably,  worthy  of  the  capital 
of  the  once  great  Mohammedan  empire  of  the  East. 

Our  illustration  of  the  mosque — or  Jumna  Musjid, 
as  it  is  called — will  give  a  better  idea  of  its  general 
appearance  than  any  description  could  do.  It  wants 
the  unity  of  design  and  the  simplicity  and  beauty  of 
the  Taj,  but  as  a  temple  of  worship  it  is  far  more 
imposing.  The  ground  on  which  it  is  reared  was 
originally  a  rocky  eminence,  which  has  been  scarped 
and  leveled  on  the  summit,  thus  forming  a  grand 
natural  platform  for  the  building,  and  aftbrding  space 
for  an  open  square  of  fourteen  hundred  yards.     This 


TjilVBBSlTTj 


DELHI.  141 

square  has  three  great  entrances,  the  most  magnificent 
being  toward  Mecca.  These  entrances  are  approached 
by  noble  flights  of  stairs.  On  stepping  upon  the 
grand  square,  the  sight  is  most  imposing.  We  tread 
upon  slabs  on  which  tens  of  thousands  of  worshipers 
can  kneel.  On  three  sides  are  airy  arched  colon- 
nades, with  seated  pavilions  at  intervals.  In  the 
center  is  a  marble  fountain  for  ceremonial  ablutions. 
The  mosque  itself  occupies  the  other  end  of  the 
square,  and  is  in  length  about  two  hundred  and 
sixty-one  feet.  It  possesses  in  a  wonderful  degree 
richness  and  beauty  of  color,  combined  with  strength 
and  grace,  and  simplicity  and  variety  of  form.  Its 
general  color  is  a  deep  red,  from  a  hard  red  sand- 
stone, but  this  is  relieved  by  pure  white  marble,  as 
in  the  three  domes  on  the  summit;  while  the  mina- 
rets, one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  in  height,  are  varie- 
gated by  black  marble,  mingling  in  their  shafts  with 
the  red  stone,  and  relieved  by  three  projecting  gal- 
leries of  the  same  pure  white  marble  as  the  domes. 
If  to  all  this  be  added  the  marble  steps  leading  to  the 
mosque,  and  the  marble  roofs  and  walls  seen  within 
in  subdued  light — a  cornice  extending  along  the 
whole  building,  and  divided  into  compartments  two 
and  a  half  feet  broad,  in  which  verses  from  the  Koran 
are  inscribed  in  black  marble,  the  whole  culminating 
in  the  gilt  pinnacles  which  top  the  domes  and  gleam 
in  the  blue  sky — then  may  the  reader  conceive  the 
effect  of  all  this — how  fresh,  bright,  and  beautiful  the 


142  DAFS  m  NORTH  INDIA. 

Jumna  Musjid  is  in  a  climate  so  hot,  in  an  atmos- 
phere so  transparent,  and  under  a  sky  so  blue  and 
cloudless!  On  entering  the  building,  which  through 
its  giant  arches  seems  almost  an  open  recess  from  the 
square  without,  it  seemed  to  me  to  be  the  very  ideal 
of  a  place  of  social  worship.  There  are  no  images  or 
pictures,  or  anything  to  catch  the  eye  or  distract 
the  attention ;  only  the  pure  and  unadorned  marble, 
harmonizing  with  the  summer  sun  and  sky.  Here 
thousands  may  meet,  and  do  meet,  for  worship,  with- 
out any  distinction  of  rank,  and  in  any  dress,  at  any 
hour,  and  on  any  day;  for  seat-rents,  and  aristocratic 
pews  for  the  rich  only,  are  unknown.  The  Moulvie, 
when  he  has  anything  to  say,  ascends  the  simple 
pulpit,  and  addresses  the  assembled  mass — his  voice 
being  audible  at  a  great  distance.  The  Jumna  Musjid 
of  Delhi  is,  in  my  opinion,  incomparably  better  as  a 
place  of  worship  than  the  dark,  sepulchred,  bedizened, 
chapeled,  altared,  pictured,  and  tawdry  image-crowded 
churches  of  Rome  and  Romanism. 

We  ascended  one  of  the  minarets,  and  had  a 
splendid  bird's-eye  view  of  the  city  and  its  neigh- 
borhood. Immediately  below  is  the  great  square; 
on  one  side,  without,  an  open  space;  and  beyond 
that  again,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  off,  rise  the 
huge  red  walls  inclosing  the  king's  palace.  A  num- 
ber of  streets  radiate  from  the  central  spot  which  we 
occupied  into  the  crowded  city;  while  all  is  com- 
pactly bound  by  the  walls  and   bastions  embracing 


DELHI.  143 

the  city,  along  which  the  waters  of  the  Jumna  flow, 
on  its  eastern  side,  from  north  to  south.  Everywhere 
the  city  is  relieved  by  green  trees  and  the  minarets 
of  many  mosques,  and  has  a  bright  and  cheerful  look. 
But  without  the  walls  one  catches  a  most  impressive 
glimpse  of  that  vast  plain  of  desolation,  where  the 
cities  of  the  past  are  in  ruins,  and  their  once-teeming 
populations  lie  buried,  bounded  only  by  the  horizon. 

There  is  one  feature  in  that  landscape  without  the 
walls  for  which  I  at  once  searched,  and  which,  when 
discovered,  interested  me  more  than  any  other.  That 
is  the  long,  low,  rocky  ridge  which  rises  a  mile  be- 
yond the  walls  to  the  north.  Questions  about  it  were 
unnecessary.  There  is  nothing  else,  so  to  speak,  in 
the  whole  surrounding  plain.  Something  seized  my 
throat  as  I  caught  the  first  glimpse  of  this  Ther- 
mopylae where,  in  '57,  our  heroes  fought,  suifered, 
and  died.  But  we  shall  have  something  to  say  of 
this  ridge  by-and-by.  In  the  mean  time  let  us  leave 
the  mosque  and  have  a  peep  at  the  once-crowded 
home  of  its  royal  and  devoted  adherents. 

The  Palace  is  a  great  space,  inclosed  by  red  em- 
battled walls  forty  to  fifty  feet  high.  The  residence 
of  a  Moslem  ruler  must  necessarily  be  fortified,  so  as 
to  afford  means  of  defense  against  any  sudden  emeute 
among  his  subjects.  It  must  also  be  large  enough  to 
accommodate  not  only  troops,  but  the  many  wives, 
the  members  of  the  royal  family,  and  the  innumera- 
ble officers  and  dependents  who  are  connected  with 


144  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

an  Oriental  court.  The  Palace  of  Delhi  is  three 
thousand  feet  long  and  eighteen  hundred  broad.  It 
can  afford  space  in  its  great  open  court  for  ten  thou- 
sand horsemen.  As  to  its  teeming  inhabitants,  there 
were  in  it,  when  the  mutiny  broke  out,  five  thousand 
persons,  including  three  thousand  of  the  blood  royal! 

The  entrance-gate  is  a  magnificent  pile  of  building. 
A  second  gate  admits  into  the  great  interior  court,  be- 
yond which  is  the  Royal  Palace  proper,  consisting  of 
the  Great  Hall  of  Audience,  or  the  Diwan-i-Kass, 
which  is  two  hundred  and  eight  feet  long  and  seventy- 
six  broad.  It  is  all  of  white  marble,  the  roof  being 
supported  by  colonnades  of  marble  pillars.  In  this  hall 
the  English  were  first  presented,  two  centuries  and  a 
half  ago,  and  stood  as  sweet  innocents  before  the 
Great  Mogul — like  Joseph's  brethren  before  Pharaoh. 
Here  the  fiimous  peacock  throne  once  stood.  It  has 
long  since  disappeared,  and  its  untold  jewels  have 
been  scattered  over  the  world  since  the  raid  and 
massacre  of  Delhi,  perpetrated  by  Nadir  Shah,  in 
1739.  Now  the  Palace  bears  no  trace  of  its  former 
glory  beyond  these  marble  halls.  The  famous  in- 
scription remains,  "  If  there  be  a  paradise  on  earth,  it 
is  here ;"  but  the  only  signs  of  paradise  are  the  unsur- 
passed beauty  and  purity  of  the  hall  itself,  and  the 
absence  from  it  of  those  who  had  made  it  a  hell. 

Most  beautiful  is  the  Private  Hall  of  Audience; 
all  marble,  with  inlaid  precious  stones  of  every  hue, 
grouped  by  cunning  artists ;  most  beautiful  the  court 


r^y    OT 


DELHI.  147 

of  the  Harem,  all  marble  also,  with  exquisite  bal- 
conies, looking  down  into  once-beautiful  gardens  on 
the  banks  of  the  Jumna;  most  beautiful  too  are  those 
marble  halls,  where  once  were  baths,  the  perfection 
of  luxury;  and  not  less  fair  that  small  marble  mosque 
beside  them.  But,  alas!  the  human  beings  who  have 
here  lived,  where  are  they?  Various  travelers  and 
writers — from  the  days  when  the  Great  Mogul  was 
the  admiration  and  envy  of  every  nursery  in  which 
the  fascinating  "Arabian  Nights"  had  charmed  our 
Northern  ancestors,  down  to  the  time  of  the  saintly 
Bishop  Heber  —  have  described  this  place  in  its 
splendor  and  decay.  Never  did  the  imagination  of 
a  Carlyle  even  realize  or  picture  the  vision-like  char- 
acter of  human  existence  which  these  halls  suggest. 
We  see  successive  crowds  coming  out  of  the  inane — 
thundering,  laughing,  cursing,  murdering,  flashing 
with  lightning  glory  over  the  earth;  visible  in  beau- 
tiful women  or  in  armed  men,  in  the  pomp  and  cir- 
cumstance of  war,  in  the  glittering  splendor  of  all 
that  material  earth  can  bestow  in  precious  metals 
and  more  precious  jewels; — we  see  the  embodiment 
of  irresponsible  power,  of  unchecked  self-will,  mad 
passion,  the  devil,  the  world,  and  the  flesh,  on  the 
peacock  throne  or  amid  its  surroundings.  And  now, 
not  a  sound !  Empty  halls,  vacant  courts,  deserted 
gardens ;  and  the  whole  of  these  emperors,  and  shahs, 
and  harems,  and  khans,  and  begums,  with  their  plots, 
conspiracies,  ambitions,  and  crimes,  overtaken  by  this 

11 


148  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

emptiness  and  awful  silence !  It  is  a  terrible  night- 
mare in  history !  The  contrast  between  the  present 
and  the  past,  as  one  wanders  through  this  palace,  is 
oppressive ! 

There  were  many  other  palaces  in  Delhi,  belong- 
ing to  the  native  aristocracy;  but  these  have  long 
since  been  converted  into  public  offices  or  residences 
for  British  officers. 

Like  all  travelers,  we,  as  a  matter  of  course,  visited 
the  Kootab.  We  had  for  our  cicerone  the  intelligent 
and  respected  Baptist  missionary,  Mr.  Smith,  who  has 
long  labored  both  in  Oude  and  Delhi,  and  is  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  manners  and  feelings  of  the  na- 
tives. Speaking  of  native  servants,  he  remarked  that, 
when  kindly  and  justly  treated,  he  believed  them 
to  be  as  honest  and  attached  as  those  in  other  coun- 
tries ;  and  such  he  himself  had  ever  found  them ;  but 
he  complained  of  the  shameful  treatment  they  often 
receive,  especially  from  the  military,  who  should 
know  better,  and  an  inferior  order  of  employes.  Sucb 
masters  fostered  the  dishonesty  and  disobedience  of 
which  they  now  complain,  and  for  which  they  punish 
their  servants  so  unjustly  and  cruelly. 

The  drive  to  the  Kootab  is  about  nine  or  ten  miles. 
What  this  Kootab  is  like,  our  illustrations  of  it  will 
inform  the  reader  as  no  mere  words  can  do.  One  of 
these  is  of  the  whole  of  this  majestic  pile,  giving  a 
general  idea  of  its  appearance ;  the  other  is  of  a  por- 
tion of  its  first  and  second  stories,  showing  the  pe- 


THE  KOOTAB-MmAR,  WITH  THE  GREAT  ARCH,  FROM  THE  WEST. 

Page  148. 


UJriVBESITZl 


'oni^ 


DELHI. 


151 


culiarity  of  its  structure.     This  tower  is  about  one 
hundred  and  forty-three  feet  in  circumference  at  its 


PART    OF    FIRST   AND    SECOND    STORIES    OF    THE    KOOTAB-MINAR. 


base,  and  is  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  height.  It 
is  built  of  a  hard  red  sandstone.  Four  projecting 
galleries,  at  the  respective  altitudes  of  ninety,  one 
hundred  and  forty,  one  hundred  and  eighty,  and  two 
hundred  and  three  feet,  divide  it  into  four  portions, 
each   differently  built  from  the  other.      The  lower 


152  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

portion,  as  will  be  seen  from  our  illustration,  has 
round  and  angular  flutings,  and  the  second  round 
only;  while  the  third  has  only  angular,  and  the 
others  are  smooth.  A  stair  with  three  hundred  and 
eighty  steps  winds  within,  and  leads  to  the  summit, 
from  which  a  splendid  view  is  obtained.  There  are 
also  inscriptions,  a  foot  in  breadth,  around  the  tower, 
containing  verses  from  the  Koran,  with  the  names  of 
illustrious  Moslems,  and  the  records  of  its  builder — 
Kutteb-ud-din.  He  was  originally  a  slave,  and  rose 
to  be  a  general  in  the  Turkish  army.  He  succeeded  his 
master,  Mohammed  Ghori — so  called  from  a  district 
of  that  name  near  Khorassan — who  conquered  North- 
ern India,  and  became  the  first  of  the  Ghori,  or  Pathan 
dynasty  (1194),  which  was  followed  by  that  of  the 
Moguls  under  Baber  (1525).  The  Pathan  capital 
was  first  here,  at  old  Delhi,  and  the  Kootab  was  a 
great  column  of  victory.  Around  its  base  are  most 
interesting  ruins  of  a  great  mosque,  begun  by  his 
son-in-law,  Altumsh ;  the  remains  of  a  forest  of  beau- 
tifully carved  pillars  of  Hindoo  or  Jain  architecture, 
which  once  belonged  to  the  palace  of  the  conquered 
Hindoo  Raja,  being  made  to  serve  as  parts  of  the 
mosque.  The  most  remarkable  of  these  ruins  is  un- 
questionably the  series  of  three  larger  arches  and 
three  smaller  ones  connected  with  the  same  old 
building.  Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  central 
arch  from  the  illustration.  It  is  22  feet  wide,  and 
52  feet   high,   and  covered   with    beautiful  carving, 


^^^ 


or 


IIJri7BRSIT7J 


DELHI.  155 

sharp  as  when  it  came  from  the  tool.  There  are 
near  the  mosque  two  very  beautiful  tombs — the 
one  of  Altumsh,  and  the  other  a  century  later. 
The  former  is  the  oldest  Mohammedan  monument 
in  India.  Close  beneath  the  Kootab  is  a  remark- 
able pillar,  consisting  of  a  single  cast  of  wrought 
iron,  weighing  about  17  tons,  and  being  50  feet  in 
height  (22  above  ground)  and  5  feet  in  circumfer- 
ence ;  the  whole  being  without  any  sign  of  rust ! 
This  fact  may  interest  our  iron  manufacturers,  and 
puzzle  them  as  to  how  such  a  feat  was  accomplished 
in  the  sixth  century,  about  which  time  this  pillar  is 
supposed  to  have  been  erected.  It  has  several  very 
old  inscriptions  on  it.  But,  as  I  do  not  attempt  to 
turn  my  brief  peeps  into  travelers'  guides,  I  need  not 
go  beyond  the  illustrations  in  describing  what  I  saw 
in  old  Delhi. 

I  could  not  have  imagined  any  ruins  of  cities  more 
impressive  than  those  which  cover  the  plains  be- 
tween the  Kootab  and  Delhi.  What  were  once 
streets,  or  the  houses  of  the  once -busy  population, 
are  now  heaps  of  rubbish.  The  tombs  erected  to  per- 
petuate the  names  of  the  great  men  of  the  day  alone 
remain.  But  how  wonderful  are  these! — wonderful  for 
their  size,  being  larger  generally  than  the  largest  of 
our  modern  churches — wonderful  for  the  elegance  of 
their  architecture,  the  beautiful  devices  of  their  orna- 
ments, and  the  brilliancy  of  their  colors  from  the  com- 

11* 


156  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

bination  of  red  stone,  white  marble,  and  encaustic 
tiles,  all  mellowed  by  time  and  made  more  picturesque 
and  sad  by  slow  and  sure  decay.  No  one  takes  care 
of  them.  No  endeavors  are  made  to  preserve  them. 
They  are  left  alone  in  their  glory.  Their  number, 
their  size,  their  uselessness  for  any  practical  object, 
doom  them  to  decay,  and  so  they  are  left  to  time  and 
the  elements.  How  I  wished  to  have  had  the  power 
of  the  angel  who  carried  the  house  of  Nazareth  in  a 
single  night  to  Loretto,  that  I  might  transport  some 
of  those  gems  to  Scotland,  and  turn  them  into 
churches  worth  looking  at! — leaving  behind,  how- 
ever, as  in  duty  bound,  the  remains  of  their  old  in- 
habitants in  their  stone  boxes,  and  in  the  orthodox 
position  wnth  relation  to  Mecca. 

The  view  given  in  the  illustration  from  the  roof  of 
Humavoon's  tomb  on  the  road  to  Delhi  is  intended  to 
convey  some  impression  of  this  wilderness  of  ruins — 
so  bare,  stony,  silent,  hot! — but  yet  only  a  small  por- 
tion of  it,  for  it  stretches  across  a  space  of  upwards  of 
twenty  miles  in  its  greatest  breadth. 

We  visited,  on  our  way  to  Delhi, — where  I  really 
cannot  now  tell, — some  tombs,  which  have  left  a  deep 
impression  on  my  memory.  Amid  mounds  of  rubbish, 
along  straggling  paths,  I  recall,  as  in  a  dream,  walls 
within  walls,  small  courts  divided  by  lacelike  lattice- 
work, marble  doors  and  screens,  and  tombs  beside 
tombs,  like  some  of  the  chapels  and  more  splendid 
mausoleums  in  our  old  cathedrals — with  living  at- 


OT  THI 


;niri7BRsiTr: 


DELHI.  159 

tend  ants,  who  read  the  Koran,  keep  lamps  lighted, 
and  take  hachsheesli,  and  give  an  air  of  life  and  com- 
fort to  those  abodes  of  the  illustrious  dead,  which 
contrasted  most  favorably  with  the  silent,  deserted, 
and  decaying  tombs  everywhere  else  around.  In  the 
group  we  visited  there  was,  as  far  as  I  remember,  the 
tomb  of  a  great  Mohammedan  saint,  Nizam-ud-din, 
one  of  the  fourteenth  century;  and  the  beautiful  tomb 
of  a  famous  poet  (Chusero),  the  only  monument  I 
ever  heard  of  in  India  dedicated  to  genius  only;  and 
there  was  also  within  the  same  court  the  tomb  of  a 
princess,  the  daughter  of  the  marble-building  Shah- 
jehan,  who  was  buried  there  in  1682.  She  is  de- 
scribed as  having  been  young  and  beautiful,  and  the 
nurse  of  her  father  during  the  many  years  of  his 
captivity,  and  until  he  died.  Her  name  is  associated 
with  all  that  is  pure  and  noble.  She  desired,  on  her 
death-bed,  that  no  canopy  should  cover  her  grave,  as 
"  grass  was  the  best  covering  for  the  tomb  of  the 
poor  in  spirit."  And  so  she  sleeps  with  the  bare 
earth  over  her,  and  marble  splendors  around  her. 
I  gazed  with  loving  interest  on  her  tomb.  To  me 
there  is  nothing  more  strengthening  and  refreshing 
than  records  of  those  who  were  good  beyond  their 
knowledge,  and  who  walked  in  the  light,  however 
dim,  of  true  love,  yet  knowing  nothing  of  Him — the 
Light  of  life — from  which  it  came.  I  think  that 
princess  was  more  than  a  Mohammedan  saint,  if 
what  is  said  of  her  be  true;  and  it  says  something 


160  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

for  the  character  of  the  Mohammedans  to  have  ap- 
preciated such  simple  goodness,  and  have  so  long 
believed  what  has  been  said  of  her  as  a  devoted 
daughter  and  pure-minded  woman.  I  wish  such 
"saints"  were  more  common  and  more  appreciated 
among  some  professing  Christians  at  home. 

There  is  another  tomb  close  by,  erected  to  the 
memory  of  a  different  character,  though  belonging 
to  the  same  noble  dynasty.  It  is  a  very  beautiful 
one,  and  must  have  cost  a  large  sum  of  money.  Its 
date  is  1832.  It  endeavors  to  preserve  the  memory 
of  Prince  Mirza  Jehangori,  who  died  from  the  results 
of  daily  efforts  to  drink  larger  quantities  of  cherry 
brandy. 

In  passing  we  entered  Humayoon's  tomb.  It  is  a 
large  red  building,  with  an  immense  dome  of  white 
marble,  and  four  minarets  of  red  stone  and  white 
marble.  A  great  gateway  leads  to  it  through  exten- 
sive gardens.  Humayoon  was  the  father  of  the  great 
Akbar.  Within  are  the  cenotaphs  of  many  of  the 
royal  scions  of  the  Mogul  dynasty,  and  other  "su- 
perior persons."  A  stair  leads  to  a  terrace  round  the 
dome,  and  from  thence  the  view  in  our  illustration  is 
taken.  What  gives  considerable  interest  to  this  build- 
ing and  its  surroundings  is,  that  here  Hodson  secured 
the  old  king  and  the  princes  after  Delhi  was  taken — 
of  which  more  by-and-by. 

The  next  object  which  attracted  our  attention  was 
the  old  Observatory,  of  which  an  illustration  is  given. 


OF   xxx»  ^ 

^TjsiVBRSIT 


DELHI.  163 

It  was  erected  in  1728  by  Rajah  Jey  Sing,  of  Jey- 
pore,  who  deserves  to  be  remembered  as  a  man  of 
true  science,  and  as  one  who  labored  most  earnestly 
and  successfully  in  applying  it  practically.  Five 
other  observatories,  that  of  Benares  being  one  of 
them,  were  also  built  by  him.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
describe  all  the  buildings,  a  portion  of  which  are 
illustrated.  There  are  two  equatorial  dials;  the  size 
of  one  is,  in  round  numbers — base,  one  hundred  and 
four  feet;  perpendicular,  fifty-six;  and  the  hypo- 
thenuse,  one  hundred  and  eighteen. 

We  passed  the  grand  old  Pathan  Fort,  above  a 
mile  from  Delhi,  and  beneath  the  archway  which 
represents  the  gate  of  old  Delhi,  the  capital  of  Feroze 
Shah,  and  destroyed  by  Timoor.  As  in  the  case  of 
most  ruins  of  towns  in  India,  and  of  palaces,  forts, 
tombs,  and  even  tanks,  not  the  British,  but  the  natives 
themselves,  were  their  destroyers.  Delhi  itself,  even 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  was  sacked  by  Persian,  by 
Mahratta,  and  by  Afghan.  To  intestine  wars,  and 
especially  to  the  remorseless  raids  of  the  Mahratta 
powers,  and  to  the  whims  and  tyranny  of  local 
rulers,  we  are  to  attribute  the  marks  of  ruin  every- 
where visible,  and  the  destruction  of  works  of  utility 
as  well  as  beauty.  Whatever  decay  can  be  charged 
to  English  neglect  or  parsimony  has  been  a  million- 
fold  made  up  by  their  just  administration  and  pro- 
tection of  property,  not  to  speak  of  their  magnificent 
works  in  irrigation,  public  roads,  crowned  by  four 


164  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

thousand  miles  of  railways  and  of  telegraphic  wires 
connecting  India  with  the  civilized  world. 

There  are  very  many  objects  in  Delhi  well  worth 
seeing  and  describing,  but,  not  having  had  the  good 
fortune  to  see  them,  I  cannot  have  the  pleasure  of 
describing  them,  without  drawing  on  the  experiences 
of  more  leisurely  tourists.  Indeed,  my  brief  notices 
of  what  I  saw  are  merely  explanatory  of  my  illustra- 
tions. The  reader  may  be  enabled,  however,  by  both 
these  means  to  form  a  true  idea  of  a  few  of  the 
wonders  of  Delhi  and  its  neighborhood.  Those  who 
have  long  resided  in  the  country  must  not  be  offended 
by  the  attempt  of  a  hasty  tourist  to  describe  it,  nor 
deem  me  presumptuous  in  speaking  about  those  glo- 
rious sights,  any  more  than  if  I  attempted  to  describe 
the  moon  and  the  stars  as  seen  in  an  Indian  sky, 
merely  because  I  had  gazed  upon  them  for  a  few 
nights  only,  whereas  "  the  old  Indian "  may  have 
been  smoking  cheroots  beneath  them  "  why,  sir,  for 
thirty  years !  and  therefore  /  ought  to  know  some- 
thing about  them — but  you ! " 

But,  after  all,  it  is  the  memories  and  scenes  of  the 
mutiny  which  impress  one  most  in  Delhi.  Let  me 
endeavor,  then,  to  aid  in  carrying  down  the  story 
of  that  famous  time,  when  our  army  recovered  India, 
and  at  once  revolutionized  and  saved  it.* 


*  Those  who  wish  to  read  the  details  of  this  stirring  time  in  North 
India  will  find  them  admirably  given  in  the  two  volumes,  "The  Pun- 
jaub  and  Delhi  in  1857,"  written  bj  the  Rev.  Cave  Brown.   Such  volumes 


DELHI.  155 

Delhi  was  the  home  of  a  great  family  whose  riches 
were  gone,  whose  splendor  had  vanished,  and  for 
whose  energies  and  ambition  there  was  no  scope. 
The  palace  was  occupied  by  a  small  army  of  aristo- 
cratic Orientals,  full  of  pride,  but  destitute  of  money, 
and  subjected  to  every  possible  temptation.  The 
idea  of  a  mutiny  was  therefore  a  very  natural  one 
to  be  suggested  in  such  a  place,  and,  once  suggested, 
there  was  much  to  induce  the  hope  of  its  being  suc- 
cessful. The  king  was  an  old  toothless  debauchee  of 
nearly  eighty,  and  had  nothing  to  lose.     The  numer- 


as  these,  and  Mr.  Trevelyan's  ''  Cawnpore,"  with  others  of  a  similar  trust- 
worthy character,  should  be  published  in  a  form  suited  for  school  li- 
braries, so  that  our  children's  children  might  be  instructed  in  what  their 
countrymen  had  done  in  "the  brave  days  of  old,"  Surely  these  are  as 
worthy  of  being  known  as  the  deeds  of  Greek  or  Roman  fame  with 
which  boys  are  crammed,  and  which  are  soon  forgotten,  because  wanting 
in  personal  interest  to  them  as  boys  and  Britons.  Such  narratives,  too, 
might  be  made  truly  "religious,"  and  thus  cultivate  a  love  of  country,  and 
an  admiration  for  deeds  of  heroism,  endurance,  and  self-sacrifice.  Our 
wrong-doing  should  also  be  confessed,  that  the  young  might  learn  to  hate 
all  injustice  and  cruelty.  We  can  now,  as  we  never  could  in  former 
times,  reproduce  grand  pictures  of  the  noblest  Christian  faith  exhibited  in 
many  a  campaign  in  India,  not  by  gentle  women  only,  but  hy gentle-men 
and  great  soldiers.  Our  wars,  when  just,  and  our  victories,  are  as  fit  sub- 
jects for  religious  thought  and  praise  as  were  the  battles  of  the  Jews 
commemorated  in  many  of  the  Psalms.  How  much  more  "religious" 
and  inspiring  might  such  volumes  be  made  for  our  youth  than  scores 
which  pass  for  this,  merely  because  they  are  full  of  religious  words  and 
phrases  and  exhibit  only  the  simpler  forms  of  life — the  strength  of  prin- 
ciple tested  and  revealed  generally,  if  not  always,  by  sickness  or  disease, 
or  by  a  peaceful  death-bed  surrounded  by  pious  and  loving  friends  !  Our 
young  lads  should  be  made  to  see  how,  in  the  camp  or  on  the  deck,  in 
time  of  war  and  battle,  men  may  adorn  their  faith  in  Christ. 


166  DAVS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

ous  princes  were  almost  beggars,  and  their  future  was 
hopeless.  The  nobles  were  much  in  the  same  con- 
dition. Twenty  millions  of  Mohammedans  could  be 
relied  on  as  fiinatical  haters  of  Britain,  and  as  having 
a  traditional  attachment  to  their  king,  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  their  race,  their  rule,  and  their  faith. 
The  whole  Bengal  army,  splendidly  drilled,  with  in- 
fantry, cavalry,  and  artillery,  were  with  them  to  a 
man.  If  the  handful  of  European  troops,  and  of 
European  civilians,  by  a  bold  coup  d'etat,  could  be  cut 
oJBT  at  once,  would  England  cross  oceans  and  march 
over  plains  with  no  captives  to  relieve,  and  attempt 
to  reconquer  India  ?  It  was  a  stake  worth  risking 
much  for.  Policy  and  hate,  religion  and  race,  all 
combined  to  favor  the  attempt.  The  result  showed 
how  nearly  it  had  succeeded! 

On  the  16th  of  May  a  telegram  was  flashed  from 
Delhi.  It  shook  the  nerves  of  the  bravest  in  every 
cantonment,  north  and  south,  to  which  it  was  in  a 
moment  repeated  i-^-'^  77*6  Sepoys  liave  come  in  from 
Meerut,  and  are  burning  everything.  Mr.  Todd  is  dead, 
and,  we  hear,  several  Europeans.  We  must  shut  upT 
These  words  were  sent  by  a  brave  man,  who  was  im- 
mediately cut  down,  with  his  hand  on  the  signaling 
apparatus.  But  he  helped  to  save  India  and  the  lives 
of  his  countrymen.  The  mutineers  were  not  ex- 
pected so  soon,  even  by  the  king.  The  shell  had 
burst  before  its  time;  and  but  for  the  mysterious 
stupidity  at  Meerut  on  the   part  of  those  in  com- 


DELHI.  167 

mand,  the  European  troops  there  might  have  hin- 
dered the  traitors,  stained  with  English  blood,  from 
reaching  Delhi.  When  clouds  of  dust  were  seen 
coming  along  the  road  from  Meerut,  caused  by 
troopers  galloping  toward  the  city,  every  one  won- 
dered, except  those  in  the  secret ;  but  these  included 
the  inhabitants  of  the  palace  and  all  the  troops  in 
and  around  the  city,  in  cantonments  and  on  guard; 
for  they  were,  without  exception,  all  natives.  When 
the  news  spread  of  this  sudden  arrival,  and  when  the 
worst  suspicions  were  aroused,  then  followed  the  gal- 
loping hither  and  thither  of  civil  servants  and  military 
officers  to  the  guard-rooms,  to  the  police-stations,  to  the 
palace,  to  the  cantonments.  Then  there  was  the  call- 
ing out  of  troops  and  establishing  of  batteries — reveal- 
ing in  a  moment  the  awful  fact  of  treachery — treach- 
ery everywhere ;  no  one  to  rely  on ;  a  whole  city,  from 
the  palace  to  the  police-office,  full  of  hate,  rapidly 
developing  into  bloody  thoughts  and  bloody  deeds. 
The  air  was  now  filled  with  fierce  fanatical  shrieks  of 
"  Deen  !  Deen  !"  the  Mohammedan  battle-cry  of  many 
a  revolt  and  massacre  in  the  cause  of  "the  Faith." 
And  so  it  happened  tliat  ere  the  sun  of  that  day  set, 
all  Europeans,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  who  had 
escaped  like  rats  along  the  city  ditch,  and  ladies  and 
children  who  had  fled  to  the  flag-staff"  tower  and  the 
ridge — all  were  massacred,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, by  fifteen  hundred  mutineers,  aided  by  all  the 
rascally  scum  of  that  vile  city.     All  the  natives,  too, 

12 


168  DATS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

who  were  known  to  be  connected  with  us  as  employes, 
teachers,  or  students  in  colleges — missionaries  and 
chaplains — native  or  Christian  pastors,  every  native 
even  speaking  the  English  language — all  were  cut 
down  in  the  fierce  slaughter.  Some  who  had  con- 
cealed themselves  were  in  a  day  or  two  dragged  from 
their  hiding-places,  betrayed,  and  slain.  The  canton- 
ments, too,  were  in  arms;  officers  were  killed;  but 
the  fugitives  in  the  round  tower  managed  to  escape 
under  cover  of  night,  and  then  every  sign  of  English 
power  or  sound  of  English  speech  had  passed  away 
from  Delhi. 

But  that  was  not  until  a  great  deed  of  heroism  had 
been  performed  which  is  fresh  in  the  memories  of 
most,  but  is  unknown,  I  doubt  not,  to  many  at  least 
of  my  younger  readers.  There  was  a  small  European 
staff  over  the  powder  magazine,  consisting  of  some 
officers  of  artillery.  Lieutenant  Willoughby  in  com- 
mand, with  three  conductors,  one  sub-conductor,  and 
one  sergeant  of  artillery.  No  assistance  could  be 
sent  to  them,  but  they  would  not  desert  their  post. 
King's  troops  demanded  admittance  and  were  refused. 
Furious  crowds  of  soldiers  surrounded  them,  and 
began  firing  on  the  small  band,  climbing  over  the 
walls  with  ladders  to  seize  the  place.  As  many  guns 
as  could  be  mustered  were  crammed  with  grape  and 
worked  for  five  hours  incessantly  against  thousands. 
But  in  vain !  Most  of  the  few  defenders  were 
wounded.     Further   resistance   was   impossible,  and 


DELHI.  169 

the  last  had  come.  But  that  last  was  terrible!  Wil- 
loughby  determined,  if  no  relief  appeared,  to  blow  up 
the  magazine,  and  he  and  his  men  to  run  the  risk  of 
being  blown  up  with  it!  The  train  was  set.  It 
reached  the  foot  of  a  fruit-tree  where  Scully  was 
stationed,  and  it  was  settled  that  when  Buckley, 
who  was  waiting  for  the  signal  from  his  command- 
ing officer,  should  raise  his  hat,  the  fuse  would  be 
applied.  Willoughby,  rushing  to  a  bastion  from 
whence  he  could  see  the  Meerut  road,  gave  one 
anxious  gaze — was  relief  coming?  No!  He  re- 
turned to  his  guns ;  a  word  was  passed  to  Buckley, 
who  raised  his  hat,  and  the  train  was  fired.  A  roar 
louder  than  the  loudest  thunder  was  heard  at  the 
flag-staff  tower.  The  magazine,  with  hundreds  of  the 
natives,  had  been  blown  into  the  air.  Poor  Scully, 
Lieutenant-Conductor  Crow,  and  Sergeant  Edwards 
were  killed;  Tooms,  Ranger,  Shaw,  Buckley,  and 
Stewart,  strange  to  say,  escaped  to  wear  the  Victoria 
Cross.  Willoughby  also  escaped,  but  he,  alas!  was 
murdered  three  days  afterward  in  a  village  as  he 
was  making  his  way  to  Meerut.  "One  who  saw 
him  rush  past,  said  that  that  morning  had  stamped 
years  of  age  and  care  on  his  fair  boyish  face." 

And  now  every  eye  was  turned  to  Delhi,  every 
bayonet  that  could  be  spared  was  pointing  toward 
"the  bloody  city." 

Every  European  soldier  that  could  be  spared  from 
defending  important  military  positions  was  mustered 


170  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

with  all  possible  speed.  But  such  troops  were  few ; 
the  distances  were  great;  the  heat  of  an  Indian 
sun  was  daily  increasing.  The  mutiny  was  rapidly 
spreading,  and  bursting  into  flames  over  a  wide  ex- 
tent of  country.  But  all  that  men  could  do  would 
be  done.  Our  possession  of  India,  not  to  speak  of 
the  lives  of  all  the  Europeans  in  it,  was  at  stake. 

By  the  5th  of  June  a  comparatively  small  force 
under  Sir  H.  Barnard,  marching  from  Uinballa,  was 
ten  miles  from  Delhi.  He  was  joined  by  another 
under  command  of  Brigadier  Wilson;  and  on  the  8th 
of  June  the  victory  of  Badlee  Serai,  near  Delhi,  was 
gained,  and  the  famous  ridge  occupied.  That  ridge 
might  seem  to  have  been  made  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  India  under  a  Christian  power!  It  never  was, 
nor  is  likely  to  be,  used  for  a  nobler  end.  It  rises 
gently  from  the  plain,  which,  for  a  mile  or  a  mile  and 
a  half,  separates  it  from  the  walls  of  Delhi.  Rocks 
like  a  rough  comb,  or  dorsal  vertebrae,  run  along 
portions  of  its  summit.  To  the  north  it  again  slopes 
into  a  plain,  where  the  cantonments  were,  and  which 
were  defended  by  a  canal  running  along  its  whole 
length.  It  thus  communicated  with  the  Punjaub, 
from  whence  our  supplies  were  received.  This  ridge 
is  so  near  Delhi  that  the  shot  from  its  walls  often 
passed  over  it,  and  plunged  into  the  cantonments 
behind.  It  was  flanked  to  the  southwest  by  villages 
— like  Subzee  Mundee  (vegetable  market)  —  from 
which  attacks  could   at   any  time   be  made    under 


^^-^^ 


0»  THl 


fUHIVBIlSITT] 


DELHI.  173 

cover  by  the  enemy.  Along  the  summit  of  the  ridge 
were  some  points  of  defense — the  flag-staff  house,  a 
small  mosque,  an  observatory,  and  Hindoo  Rao's 
house.*  The  force  which  was  established  on  the 
ridge  did  not  consist  of  more  than  five  thousand 
men  of  all  arms.  They  were  joined,  however,  next 
day  by  a  few  infantry  and  cavalry,  which,  beneath  a 
burning  sun,  had  marched  from  the  Punjaub,  five 
hundred  and  eighty  miles  in  twenty-two  days! 

The  enemy  in  Delhi  was  increasing  daily;  for  to 
it,  as  the  Mohammedan  rallying-point,  all  the  fine 
regiments  of  our  Bengal  army  that  were  within  reach 
— infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery  —  marched,  and 
could  not  be  prevented  entering  by  our  troops,  as 
the  city  lay  between  them  and  the  bridge  of  boats 
by  which  they  crossed  into  the  old  fort  Selimghur, 
now  pierced  by  the  railway.  At  the  first  the  enemy 
were  as  two  to  one,  and  at  the  last  five  to  one.  The 
city  was  defended  by  a  wall  twenty-four  feet  high, 
with  bastions,  a  covering  glacis,  ditch,  etc.,  as  seen 
in  the  illustration  of  the  Cashmere  Gate,  and  all  in 
good  repair,  with  an  inexhaustible  store  of  artillery 
and  amnaunition,  used  by  men  who  had  been  drilled 
by  ourselves. 

*  This  house  had  been  once  the  home  of  the  British  resident,  Mr. 
Fraser,  an  excellent  man,  who  was  murdered — probably  from  the  hatred 
of  the  people  to  his  insolent  predecessor — in  1835,  by  a  certain  Nawab 
and  a  Kuman  Khan,  both  of  whom  were  afterward  hung  for  the  crime 
near  the  Cashmere  Gate.  Hindoo  Kao,  who  bought  the  house,  was  a 
Mahratta. 

12* 


174  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA, 

Cholera  had  accompanied  our  troops  in  the  march. 
It  never  left  the  camp.  The  general  in  command, 
Sir  H.  Barnard,  was  cut  down  by  it  early  in  July; 
the  previous  commander-in-chief.  General  Anson, 
having  died  from  it  the  day  before  the  arrival  of  his 
successor.  The  next  commander,  General  Reid,  who 
had  to  retire  from  bad  health  the  same  month,  was 
succeeded  by  Brigadier  Wilson,  who  continued  to  the 
end  of  the  siege.  By  the  month  of  August  our  troops 
had  increased  to  eight  thousand  effective  men,  but  at 
the  end  of  that  month  upwards  of  three  thousand  men 
were  in  hospital! 

For  upwards  of  three  months  we  were  not  the  be- 
siegers, but  the  besieged:  twenty-five  attacks  having 
been  resisted.  These  were  made  by  the  successive 
bodies  of  mutineers  who,  as  they  arrived,  were  sent 
to  prove  their  loyalty  to  the  king,  by  trying  their 
mettle  against  the  British.  For  awhile  it  was  all  we 
could  do  to  hold  our  own.  The  heat  was  terrific, 
our  troops  few,  sickness  great;  and,  had  no  assist- 
ance come,  every  man  must  have  perished.  Even  as 
it  was,  had  the  cavalry  in  the  city,  amounting  at  one 
time  to  seven  thousand  men,  been  tolerably  well 
handled — had  there  been  mutual  trust,  instead  of 
constant  suspicion — all  our  supplies  could  have  been 
cut  off  from  the  Punjaub,  and  we  should  have  been 
starved  out.  But  "God  confounded  their  counsels." 
The  king  and  his  ministers  were  all  the  while,  very 
naturally,  endeavoring  to  rouse  the  great  Moham- 


DELHI.  175 

medan  chiefs  to  rally  round  the  banner  of  their  liege 
lord,  and  drive  the  hated  infidels  into  the  sea.  A 
reply  to  one  of  those  appeals  was  afterward  found  in 
the  palace :  "  Take  down,"  it  said,  ''  the  British  flag 
from  that  ridge,  and  I  will  join  you;  but  so  long  as  it 
flies  there,  I  won't!"  But  that  flag,  thank  God! 
was  never  taken  down  until  it  was  raised  again  in 
Delhi. 

In  the  mean  time,  Sir  John  Lawrence,  w^ho  fortu- 
nately for  us  ruled  in  the  Punjaub,  and  was  an  em- 
bodiment of  what  the  natives  fear  and  respect — 
power,  kindness,  unswerving  truth,  and  inexorable 
justice — had  adopted  the  policy  of  sending  every 
man  who  could  be  raised  to  Delhi,  trusting  for  his 
defense  against  the  ill-disposed  to  the  better-disposed 
of  the  Sikh  chieftains  in  the  Punjaub.  His  argument 
was,  that  if  Delhi  fell,  then  all  was  lost,  and  nothing 
could  save  the  Punjaub;  but  that  if  Delhi  were 
taken,  all  was  saved,  in  the  Punjaub  and  everywhere 
else.  He  also  sent  men  who  were,  each  in  his  own 
way,  a  host  in  himself.  Foremost  was  the  great 
Nicholson,  the  man  whom  all  loved  and  trusted,  and 
who  was  literally  worshiped  by  the  natives ;  the  man 
of  military  genius  and  of  courage  never  darkened  by 
a  shade  of  fear ;  the  man  of  such  endurance  that  he 
had  a  few  weeks  before  been  in  the  saddle  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  pursuing  the  flying  enemy  for  seventy 
miles  without  halting;  the  man  sans peur  et  sans  re- 
proclie.     With  him  was  a  young  engineer  officer,  now 


176  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

Colonel  Taylor,  "the  gallant  and  eminently  talented," 
as  he  was  described  in  the  dispatch  of  General  Wil- 
son, who  was  fully  appreciated  by  Lawrence,  and  in 
whom  the  distinguished  chief  in  command  of  that 
arm  of  the  service.  Colonel  Baird  Smith,  then  laid 
aside  by  sickness,  found  a  brother,  who  valued  the 
true  greatness,  sweet  temper,  and  perfect  tact  of  his 
chief — all  needed  from  the  want  of  them  in  certain 
high  quarters. 

Nicholson,  after  fighting  the  battle  of  Nujufghur, 
and  gaining  a  great  victory,  in  spite  of  the  greatest 
difficulties,  joined  the  besieging  army  in  August. 
The  siege  train  arrived  in  September,  and  by  the 
seventh  of  that  month  the  first  battery  opened  its 
fire.  The  others  were  soon  established  nearer  and 
nearer  the  walls,  until  fifty  guns  and  mortars  poured 
into  it  shot  and  shell  day  and  night  from  the  12th 
till  the  14th. 

On  that  day  the  final  assault  was  delivered  by 
several  columns  of  attack.  The  one  led  by  Nichol- 
son scaled  the  breach  at  the  Cashmere  Gate,  nearly 
at  the  point  from  which  our  illustration  is  taken. 
Some  old  Sikhs  afterward,  as  they  looked  at  it,  know- 
ing the  tremendous  odds  against  us,  remarked  to  my 
informant,  "It  was  not  man  but  God  who  led  the 
British  soldiers  across  that  ditch  and  up  that  wall!" 
The  exploit  at  the  same  time  of  blowing  open  the 
Cashmere  Gate  was  one  of  the  noblest  deeds  in  his- 
tory.    It  was  this: 


DELHI.  177 

The  third  column,  under  the  gallant  Colonel  Camp- 
bell of  the  52d,  was  to  enter  by  this  gate,  which  was 
to  be  blown  down  by  powder  bags.  The  exploding 
party  consisted  of  Lieutenants  Salkeld  and  Home,  of 
the  Engineers;  Sergeants  Carmichael,  Burgess,  and 
Smith,  of  the  Bengal  Sappers;  and  Bugler  Hawthorn, 
of  the  52d.  The  forlorn -hope,  doomed  almost  to 
certain  death,  waited  calmly  for  the  signal  at  early 
dawn  to  advance.  The  firing  from  the  batteries  sud- 
denly ceased.  The  bugle  sounded  ;  the  rifles  rushed 
from  under  cover  and  cheered;  "out  moved  Home 
with  four  soldiers,  each  carrying  a  bag  of  powder  on 
his  head ;  close  behind  him  came  Salkeld,  portfire  in 
hand,  with  more  soldiers  similarly  laden  ;  while,  a 
short  distance  beyond,  was  the  storming-party,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  strong,  under  Captain  Bayley,  of 
the  52d,  followed  up  by  the  main  body  of  the  column 
in  the  rear.  The  gateway,  as  in  all  native  cities,  was 
on  the  side  of  the  bastion,  and  had  an  outer  gateway 
in  advance  of  the  ditch.  Home  and  his  party  were 
at  this  outer  gate  almost  before  their  approach  was 
known.  It  was  open ;  but  the  drawbridge  was  so 
shattered  that  it  was  very  difficult  to  cross;  however, 
they  got  over  it,  reached  the  main  gate,  and  laid 
their  powder  unharmed.  So  utterly  paralyzed  was 
the  enemy  at  the  audacity  of  the  proceeding  that  they 
only  fired  a  few  straggling  shots  and  made  haste  to 
close  the  wicket  with  every  appearance  of  alarm.  Lieu- 
tenant Home,  after  laying  his  bags,  was  thus  able  to 


178  DAYS  /AT  NORTH  INDIA. 

jump  into  the  ditch  unhurt.  It  was  now  Salkeld's 
turn.  He  also  advanced  with  four  bags  of  powder  and 
a  lighted  portfire.  But  the  enemy  had  now  recovered 
from  their  consternation,  and  had  seen  the  weakness 
of  the  party  and  the  object  of  their  approach.  A 
deadly  fire  was  forthwith  poured  upon  the  little  band 
from  the  top  of  the  gateway,  from  both  flanks,  and 
from  the  open  wicket  not  ten  feet  distant.  Salkeld  laid 
his  bags,  but  was  shot  through  the  arm,  and  fell  back 
on  the  bridge,  handing  the  portfire  to  Sergeant  Bur- 
gess, bidding  him  light  the  fuse.  Burgess  was  instantly 
shot  dead  in  the  attempt.  Sergeant  Carmichael  then 
advanced,  took  up  the  portfire  and  succeeded  in  the 
attempt,  but  immediately  fell  mortally  wounded. 
Sergeant  Smith,  seeing  him  fall,  advanced  at  a  run, 
but  finding  that  the  fiise  was  already  burning,  threw 
himself  down  into  the  ditch,  where  the  bugler  had 
already  conveyed  poor  Salkeld.  In  another  moment 
a  terrific  explosion  shattered  the  massive  gate.  The 
bugler  sounded  the  advance,  and  then  with  a  loud 
cheer  the  storming-party  was  at  the  gateway.  In  a 
few  minutes  more  the  entire  column  arrived,  and  the 
Cashmere  Gate  and  mainguard  were  in  our  hands."* 
But  ere  that  day  closed,  sixty-six  officers  and  eleven 
hundred  and  four  men  had  been  killed  or  wounded 


*  "Punjaub  and  Delhi,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  173-4.  All  these  heroes  who 
survived  received  the  Victoria  Cross.  But,  alas!  after  lingering  several 
days  Salkeld  died  of  his  wounds,  and  Home  was  killed  soon  afterward 
when  blowing  up  the  Fort  of  Malaghur. 


DELHI.  179 

— among  them  the  invincible  Nicholson.  He  had 
led  his  troop  along  a  narrow  lane  between  the  houses 
and  the  walls  to  the  Lahore  Gate,  and  was  mortally 
wounded  by  a  shot  which  entered  his  lungs  beneath 
his  arm,  as  it  was  held  aloft  cheering  on  his  men  to 
the  charge.* 

Delhi  was  not  yet  won.  The  resistance  was  des- 
perate. Its  armed  and  now  reckless  thousands  filled 
every  house  and  house-top,  and  wherever  room  could 
be  found  to  command  our  troops  advancing  through 
narrow  streets.  A  third  of  our  men  under  arms  were 
disabled  in  the  fight,  which  continued  from  the  14th 
to  the  19th,  when  the  city  was  at  last  wholly  ours. 
So  fierce  was  the  struggle  at  one  time,  that  the  Gen- 
eral had  thoughts  of  withdrawing  the  troops.  When 
the  brave  Colonel  Campbell  of  the  52d,  who  had  led 
the  assault  at  the  Cashmere  Gate,  heard  this  report, 
he  exclaimed,  "I  am  in,  and  I  sha'n't  go  out!"  To 
retire  would  have  been  destruction.  But  the  troops 
were  at  first  perfectly  demoralized  from  being  tempted 
by  the  wild  heat  and  dreadful  fatigue  and  excite- 
ment, to  drink  from  the  almost  inexhaustible  stores  of 
intoxicating  liquors  which  had  been  designedly  laid 
in  their  way  by  the  enemy — more  deadly  and  danger- 
ous than  ball  or  bayonet.     The  number  of  bottles  of 

*  An  order  arrived  from  the  Commander-in-Chief,  Sir  Colin  Camp- 
bell, superseding  him  as  Brigadier-General  1  Eed  tape  could  do  no 
more.  Fortunately,  Nicholson  never  heard  of  this.  It  came  after  his 
death. 


180  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

Spirits,  etc.  destroyed  by  order  from  the  General  is 
reported  to  have  been  "almost  fabulous."  But,  never- 
theless, "the  wicked  and  rebellious  city"  was  taken. 
Lucknow  and  Delhi,  the  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  of 
India,  had  both  perished.  British  troops  bivouacked 
in  the  Great  Mosque  and  the  Palace  of  the  Moguls, 
as  they  did  in  the  Kaiser  Bagh  of  Lucknow,  and 
India  was  saved,  to  become  a  part  of  our  empire  from 
Cape  Comorin  to  the  Kyber  Pass! 

There  was  one  remarkable  episode  of  this  siege, 
with  which  we  conclude  our  sketch. 

The  king  was  never  good  when  at  his  best,  but 
now  he  was  too  old  and  used  up  in  body  and  mind  to 
exercise  any  influence  or  power,  except  by  giving  the 
authority  of  his  name  to  those  willing  to  restore  the 
dignity  of  his  house  and  to  "avenge  him  on  his  ad- 
versaries." He  had  fled  with  the  royal  princes,  and 
some  thousands  of  fanatical  but  terrified  armed  fol- 
lowers, to  take  refuge,  like  an  old  toothless  tiger, 
in  the  dark  vaults  of  Humayoon's  tomb,  already  de- 
scribed. Hodson  heard  of  this.  He  was  head  of 
"  the  intelligence  department"  in  the  camp,  as  well 
as  commander  of  "the  Guides,"  a  splendid  body  of 
Sikh  Sowars.  He  had  spies  too,  one  at  least,  an  old 
friend  long  known  to  him,  in  Delhi,  during  the  whole 
period  of  the  siege.  He  found  also  a  willing  traitor, 
from  love  of  life  and  of  backsheesh,  in  one  of  the 
king's  relatives.  After  some  diplomatic  bargain-mak- 
ing through  him  with  the  king,  Hodson  was  per- 


DELHI.  181 

mitted  to  grant  the  worthless  old  man's  life,  and  that 
of  a  favorite  wife  worse  than  himself,  and  of  their 
son — if  they  unconditionally  surrendered.  After  a 
few  hours'  anxious  conference  between  the  king  and 
the  "mutual  friend,"  during  which  Hodson  anxiously 
waited  outside  the  tomb,  the  royal  party  surrendered, 
and  straightway  were  conducted  to  Delhi,  the  band 
of  followers  offering  no  obstruction.  The  king  entered 
his  palace,  and  in  the  Great  Hall  of  Audience  he 
was  received  in  state  by  the  representative  of  Great 
Britain,  and  conveyed  to  prison.  Ultimately,  as  we 
all  know,  he  was  transported  to  Eangoon  and  died  in 
exile. 

But  his  sons,  the  really  guilty  ones,  were  yet  in 
Humayoon's  tomb.  To  this  Hodson  next  day  re- 
turned. The  gardens  were  full  of  an  armed  and 
infuriated  mob,  numbering  some  seven  thousand,  of 
the  scum  of  the  palace  and  of  Delhi.  Hodson  had 
only  a  hundred  of  his  "  Guides."  Accompanied  by 
only  one  other  officer,  Captain  Macdonald,  he  passed 
beneath  the  great  gateway,  where,  as  he  soon  learned, 
the  princes  lay  concealed.  With  a  loud  voice  he 
commanded  obedience,  and,  entering  the  gardens, 
ordered — what  sublime  impudence  ! — the  crowd  to 
lay  down  their  arms !  He  was  at  their  mercy ;  for 
a  word  from  any  fanatic  would  have  cut  him  and  his 
companion  to  pieces.  But  they  sat  unmoved  on  their 
horses;  Hodson  smoking  his  cigar  as  a  sign  of  calm 
confidence   in   his   resources.      All   arms   were    sur- 

13 


182  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

rendered,  piled  into  carts,  and  driven  to  Delhi,  six 
miles  off!  The  princes  then  surrendered  uncondi- 
tionally, and  were  sent  off  under  a  guard  in  buggies. 
Hodson,  with  his  force,  then  followed  at  some  dis- 
tance. Not  a  word  had  been  spoken  during  these 
hours  of  intense  anxiety;  but  when  well  clear  of  the 
tomb,  and  rapidly  drawing  with  his  rear-guard  to- 
ward the  princes,  and  between  them  and  the  mob, 
he  said  to  his  companion,  "Mac!  we  have  done  it!" 
Yes,  he  had  done  it !  done  it  bravely  and  well.  It 
would  have  been  well  had  he  done  no  more.  A  man 
of  more  splendid  dash  and  daring  never  charged  a 
foe,  and  few  possessed  greater  general  culture  and 
talent.  But  he  had  his  failings,  which  it  is  not 
pleasant  or  necessary  to  allude  to  further.  His 
killing  of  the  Delhi  princes  is  indefensible.  There 
was  neither,  as  was  alleged,  an  attempt  at,  nor  a 
possibility  of,  rescue  by  the  rabble,  whom  he  had 
disarmed.  That  these  worthless  princes  deserved 
death  is  admitted,  but  it  was  for  the  honor  and 
dignity  of  Britain  that  they  should  have  been  form- 
ally tried,  condemned,  and  executed  by  the  tribunal 
sitting  in  Delhi,  as  most  certainly  they  would  have 
been — not  dragged  out  of  their  conveyances,  stripped 
naked  (to  discover  concealed  loot?)  and  then  shot,  as 
wa&  done  by  Hodson,  with  his  own  hand.  The  dead 
bodies  were  exposed  for  some  days  on  an  old  stone 
platform  of  the  mosque  in  the  Chandnee  Chouk,  the 
spot,  I  was  informed,  occupied  by  Nadir  Shah  on  the 
afternoon  after  the  great  massacre  of  Delhi. 


DELHI.  183 

These  men  and  their  followers  deserved,  no  doubt, 
their  fate.  Fifteen  English  gentlemen  and  two  ladies 
had  been  massacred  in  cold  blood  in  the  palace  and 
city  of  Delhi.  This  was  impossible  without  the  con- 
sent, either  active  or  implied,  of  those  princes,  who 
were  in  command.  But  I  repeat,  for  the  sake  of  the 
uninformed  at  home,  what  no  one  now  denies  in 
India,  that  no  insults,  such  as  we  read  about  at  the 
time,  were  offered  to  any  of  our  ladies.  They  were 
suddenly  cut  down  and  slain — sufficiently  terrible, 
no  doubt — but,  thank  God !  that  was  all.  I  feel  also 
bound,  once  more,  as  a  citizen  and  Christian,  to 
acknowledge  with  shame  our  fierce  and  uncalled-for 
revenge,  upon  innocent  persons  too,  after  the  mutiny ; 
and  our  wholesale  and  cowardly  executions  and  cruel- 
ties. I  shall  not  prove  this  by  giving  instances,  too 
many  of  which  I  have  received  from  those  whose 
names  and  means  of  iuformation  are  guarantees  for 
their  truth.  No  good  can  come  now  from  such  sensa- 
tional stories,  but  an  expression  of  our  deep  regret  is 
due  to  truth  and  righteousness.  Man's  nature  seems 
to  change  in  times  of  great  excitement.  The  weak 
and  timid  often  become  great  and  brave;  persons 
thought  great  and  brave  become  sometimes  athirst 
for  blood.* 


*  Among  other  narratives  which  touch  on  those  bloody  deeds,  the 
reader  should  consult  the  Diary  of  "  Kussell  of  the  Times,''  as  he  is  called, 
and  Mr.  Trevelyan's  "  Cawnpore. "  Since  the  above  was  in  type,  I  accident- 
ally met  a  baronet  who  had  taken  a  distinguished  part  in  the  Lucknow 


184  DAYS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

In  thinking  over  these  dreadful  times  it  is  a  pleas- 
ing fact,  that  although  about  two  thousand  native 
Christians  were  involved  in  the  mutiny,  not  one 
fought  against  us.  Mr.  Kaikes,  a  distinguished  ci- 
vilian, in  his  '^  Notes  on  the  Revolt"  (p.  139),  says, 
in  corroboration  of  the  same  opinion  expressed  by 
other  competent  authorities,  "  I  found  it  to  be  a 
general  rule  that  when  you  had  an  official  well  edu- 
cated at  our  English  colleges,  and  conversant  with 
the  English  tongue,  then  you  had  a  friend  on  whom 
reliance  could  be  placed."  The  mutineers,  as  a  rule, 
"  would  trust  nobody  who  ever  knew  English."     He 


campaign.  On  asking  his  opinion  regarding  those  unworthy  deeds,  he 
said,  "  If  a  balance  were  drawn  between  the  cruelties  of  the  natives,  and 
of  our  soldiers  and  officers  in  India,  I  fear  there  would  be  little  mercy  to 
our  credit."  It  was  very  awful!  "The  least  said,  soonest  mended." 
Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead.  Thank  God  for  Lawrence,  Canning,  and 
many  others  who  stayed  the  arm  of  the  avenger,  and  were  merciful  and 
good ;  and  thank  God  for  the  brighter  day  which  has  dawned  on  India, 
and  promises  to  become  brighter.  The  only  cruel  thing,  by  the  way, 
which  I  saw  done  by  a  European  toward  a  native,  was  just  as  the  train 
from  Delhi  to  Calcutta  was  moving  slowly  out  of  the  station.  A  native 
servant,  apparently  in  the  attitude  of  salaaming,  approached  a  vulgar- 
looking  person  who  had  been  pointed  out  to  me  as  a  European  engaged 
in  some  mercantile  business  in  Delhi.  The  miscreant  gave  the  native  a 
severe  blow  on  the  face  with  his  fist,  which  drew  blood ;  the  poor  creat- 
ure bent  down,  covering  his  face  as  if  in  pain,  when  a  kick  was  ad- 
ministered, which  reached  his  chest,  and  sent  him  off  with  a  scream  of 
agony  I  No  one  seemed  to  take  the  slightest  notice.  I  shouted  out, 
"  You  brute!"  but  the  train  moved  off, and  my  voice  was  lost  in  the  din. 
There  was  much  of  India's  past  history,  and  of  the  revolt  of  India,  re- 
vealed in  that  brief  scene.  May  such  fellows  be  extirpated  from  the 
land! 


DELHI.  185 

also  remarks  that  "  the  little  body  of  native  converts 
who  had  openly  professed  Christianity  identified  them- 
selves with  their  co-religionists,  and  evinced  their  sin- 
cerity by  accepting  all  the  difficulties  of  our  position, 
and  throwing  their  lot  heartily  in  with  our  own. 
Their  cause  and  the  Englishman's  cause  were  one, 
and  many  of  them  sealed  the  confession  of  their  faith 
with  their  blood."  Why,  one  asks,  are  not  Christians 
from  Southern  India,  as  well  as  the  indomitable  hill 
tribes,  like  the  brave  little  Goorkas,  made  to  form 
the  strength  of  our  native  regiments? 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  all  who  had  anything 
to  lose,  whether  in  Delhi  or  anywhere  else,  sincerely, 
and  on  purely  selfish  grounds,  welcomed  the  return 
of  our  reign.  All  the  blackguardism  of  the  country 
had  been  let  loose  when  our  grasp  was  relaxed,  and 
the  tax-gatherer  had  fled.  It  is  absurd,  however,  to 
suppose  that  the  natives  did  not  suffer.  They  were 
in  fear  of  their  lives,  and  were  robbed  of  their  prop- 
erty. It  is  equally  erroneous  to  suppose  that  natives 
of  power  and  influence  did  not  aid  us.  Had  they  not 
done  so,  we  could  not  possibly  have  maintained,  far 
less  regained,  our  position.  I  believe  every  man  of 
character,  influence,  and  property  in  India  wishes  us 
well,  as  being  the  only  government  with  justice  and 
power  which  has  ever  existed  in  India,  or  is  at 
present  possible.  It  may  be  true,  as  I  have  often 
heard  in  India,  that  "  the  natives  hate  us,  and  we 
them."     But,  please  God,  a  truer  union  will  be  ef- 

13* 


186  DAYS  IN  NOBTH  INDIA. 

fected  through  the  knowledge  of  a  common  Father 
and  Saviour. 

Before  leaving  Delhi,  as  a  matter  of  course,  I 
visited  the  famous  ridge.  I  have  seen  almost  all 
the  famous  battle-fields  of  Europe,  with  the  exception 
of  those  in  Spain.  I  have  been  at  Marathon.  But 
never  did  I  feel  that  I  was  treading  in  the  footsteps 
of  nobler  soldiers,  or  of  men  deserving  more  of  the 
gratitude  of  their  country  and  of  the  Christian  Church, 
than  those  who  fought  and  suffered  here.  With 
deepest  interest  I  traced  the  trenches  near  the  Ob- 
servatory and  Hindoo  Eao's  house,  and  listened  to 
the  silence  and  calm  of  nature,  where  once  had  swept 
for  months  the  roar  and  storm  of  battle,  as  I  had 
once  listened  all  alone  to  the  bee  humming  among 
the  wild  flowers  at  Hougoumont.  I  gazed  on  the 
ridge  from  my  room  in  Ludlow  Castle,  itself  once  a 
spot  of  stern  combat;  I  entered  the  Cashmere  Gate,* 
and  recalled  the  scene  I  have  described,  and  walked 
along  the  lane  where  Nicholson  received  his  death- 
wound.  I  visited,  also,  his  grave,  near  the  Cashmere 
Gate ;  and — 

"Oh,  for  words  to  utter 
The  thoughts  that  arose  in  me !" 

After  the  mutiny  there  was  a  revolt  threatened, 

*  I  was  arrested  on  entering  the  gateway  "by  a  placard  printed  in  large 
letters:  "  Blow  the  Drum!"  What  followed  thLs  inaugural  announce- 
ment? "David  Carson  and  his  minstrels  is  coming  I"  So  much  for  the 
contrasts  of  war  and  peace. 


DELHI,  187 

in  1858,  of,  if  possible,  a  still  more  serious  character, 
and  which  occasioned  the  deepest  anxiety  to  the 
authorities.  It  was  that  of  a  number  of  our  British 
troops.  They  supposed  themselves  to  be — and  justly, 
I  think — unfairly  treated  when  passed  over  from  the 
Company's  army,  for  which  alone  they  enlisted,  into 
the  Queen's  army,  without  receiving  any  additional 
bounty  or  a  discharge.  Letters  were  opened  at  the 
post-office  by  the  authorities,  which  revealed  a  wide- 
spread conspiracy  to  unite  and  march  to  Delhi.  It 
was  a  terrible  revelation.  Their  counsels  were  dis- 
covered, and  fortunately  baffled,  in  good  time ;  con- 
cessions were  made,  and,  as  no  outbreak  had  taken 
place,  nothing  was  said  about  it;  and  so  the  danger 
passed. 

Delhi  was  my  "farthest  North."  The  hour  had 
come  to  return  to  Calcutta,  to  embark  for  home,  "  by 
the  doctor's  orders."  Apart  from  other  considera- 
tions, it  was  to  me  a  bitter  disappointment  not  to 
have  got  a  glimpse  of  the  glorious  Himalayas,  the 
dream  of  my  youth.  But  it  could  not  be.  I  did 
little  or  nothing  in  my  Northern  journey  for  Christian 
missions,  beyond  addressing  a  few  meetings  and  hear- 
ing something  about  the  progress  of  the  blessed  work, 
which  I  cannot  state  here.  My  dear  friend  and  com- 
panion, Dr.  Watson,  was  to  finish  alone,  in  the  North, 
what  we  had  begun  together  in  the  South;  and  he  was 
well  able,  in  all  respects,  to  do  it,  without  my  aid  or 
counsel.     We  had  quite  a  womanly  parting-scene  at 


188  DATS  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

the  junction  which  separated  us — he  going  with  my 
old  friend  Mr.  Gillan,  one  of  our  chaplains,  to  Meerut, 
and  I  alone  to  Calcutta.  On  I  came  for  a  thousand 
miles  without  a  pause — a  distance  which  but  as  yester- 
day took  three  months  to  accomplish,  reaching  Cal- 
cutta when  "due." 

So  ended  my  days  in  North  India. 

I  was  welcomed  at  the  station  by  my  good  friends, 
Dr.  Charles,  Dr.  Ogilvie,  William  Craik,  etc. 


Ki^  Of  Tffii 

[UiriVBRSITYj 


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